Good to Know...

Yesterday, I posted the recipe for my favorite cake of all time. Of course it is a chocolate cake. Duh. You would think that as often as I have made this cake that I might be immune to these kinds of mistakes, but - alas - I was in a hurry... or I was preoccupied... or... well, something. Please tell me I have an excuse.

As you can clearly see on the right in the above picture, the cake came out very, very wrong. At first, I wasn't sure what had happened. Was my cocoa bad? Did I make some hideous batch of coffee? Did I forget an ingredient? I wasn't sure; I just knew that I could not serve this horrible disaster of a cake.

So, I set out to make it again. Would you believe that I got all the way through mixing the dry ingredients wrong a second time before I realized my error? This is what happens when you screw up the leavening in this cake. The recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking powder and two teaspoons of baking soda. I simply measured out two teaspoons of baking powder and called it good. You gotta love it when you misread a recipe the same way twice. Sheesh.

Now, you may be thinking: baking powder, baking soda... what's the difference? Well, there is actually a big difference. Baking powder is a balance of an acidic salt and a base. When you add moisture, it starts the two components to chemically reacting, producing carbon dioxide bubbles. Heat can also accentuate these reactions, but moisture really is the key. Baking soda on the other hand, is sodium bicarbonate, a basic substance that needs an acid in order to react. Usually, you see baking soda in recipes with buttermilk or sour cream, honey or molasses. In this cake, cocoa powder is the acidic component.

What I find especially interesting about this whole thing is that, obviously, the reaction in this cake does more than simply create lift. Look at the difference in the color! I'm going to tell you, there were some major flavor issues too. So, the next time you see a recipe that calls for a powdered leavening agent, read carefully! It may be the difference between perfection and the garbage.

Audrey's Chocolate Cake

This cake... let me tell you something about this cake. You have never tasted chocolate cake until you have tasted this chocolate cake. In my family, there is no other cake. Ever. Every birthday, every Valentine's day, every special event that called for a cake while I was growing up, was celebrated with this cake. It's that good. It is so chocolaty and moist, there is absolutely no compare.

Imagine my surprise the other day when my mom informed me that she was surprised this cake wasn't already on here. What do you mean it isn't on there? I asked. Of course it is. But it wasn't. I guess this recipe is so ingrained in my life, it never occurred to me that I had never actually posted it.

Well, let me correct that error right this second.

As you might imagine, my family's had this recipe for a long time (I'm no spring chicken, you know). My family is from Pennsylvania Dutch country, near Hershey, which makes sense since I'm pretty sure this recipe is an adaptation of Hershey's chocolate cake recipe. Audrey is my aunt and I guess my mom got the recipe from her since it's her name that's been attached to this recipe for as far back as I can remember; I have no idea where she got the recipe. I suppose it's fairly irrelevant at this point. All I know is that this is the best chocolate cake ever. Oh wait, I said that already.

The first step is to sift together the dry ingredients. I'm not normally a stickler for this kind of thing, but cocoa powder can be lumpy.

Then mix together the wet ingredients. Brew a cup of black coffee and have it on stand by. Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour and cocoa mixture first and then add the coffee last.

This batter will be exceptionally thin. I guess that's what makes for such a moist cake.

Pour the batter into two greased and parchment lined (cut to fit the bottom of the pan to help the cake come out cleanly) 9" cake rounds. If you prefer not to make a layer cake, simply pour into a 9" x 9" square pan with 3 " sides. Bake at 350 degrees for around 35-40 minutes for 9" rounds, closer to 50 minutes for the 9x9x3 cake. Bake until a tester in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from the pan.

I like this best as a layer cake with frosting, but it is plenty good all by its little lonesome (that's how my mom usually serves it). Be sure to have a glass of milk or a cup of coffee on hand for this one; you're gonna need it!


Audrey's Chocolate Cake
Yield: one 2-layer 9" round cake or one 9"x9"x3" square cake

Sift together:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder (do not use Dutch processed cocoa)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup black coffee

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Sift together the first batch of ingredients. Mix together the second batch of ingredients in a separate, smaller bowl. Add the wet to the dry and mix thoroughly. Lastly, add the coffee. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter into two prepared 9" cake rounds. Grease and place a cut-to-fit piece of parchment in the bottom of the pans. Or, you can bake the cake in one 9"x9"x3" pan. Bake 35-40 minutes for 9" rounds or 45-50 minutes for a 9"x9"x3" cake, or until a tester placed in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before removing from pan and frosting.

Chocolate Frosting
Yield: enough to frost one 9" 2-layer cake

3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
8 TBS milk

Sift together the cocoa powder and sugar. Stir in the butter carefully, lest you end up with a cocoa/sugar cloud. Add milk. When evenly moist, whip with a mixer until smooth.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

I can't believe I almost missed blueberry season. Granted, it comes a bit earlier than I'm used to down here in Florida. I was somewhat worried when I called the blueberry farm and was told the berries were getting slim and I'd better hurry up and get out there. All I've got to say is, if that's "getting slim," I'd hate to see it when the bushes are going all out!

I've picked a lot of blueberries in my life, but I've never been blueberry picking like this. I picked fourteen pounds in less than an hour. I simply had to put my bucket under a branch and rake my fingers through. The berries hung so heavy, thick, ripe, and sweet on the bush it was amazing! And the guy charged, get this... one dollar a pound! I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

While there are all kinds of blueberry recipes out there, this is quite possibly my favorite. My mom made a version of it when I was growing up and if ever there were left overs, they would mysteriously disappear... into my tummy! I was a food sneak as a kid. Dang, who am I kidding? I still am!

I love a traditional cooked blueberry pie as much as the next gal, but the fresh berries in this pie just are so pleasing in flavor and texture, you've got to give it a try!

First, bake an empty pie shell. You can use any crust, homemade or store bought. Obviously, I would advocate the homemade one, but use your best judgement. In this case, I used a whole wheat crust for an added nuttiness.

In a medium sauce pan, combine one cup of the berries, the one cup of water, sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg, lemon zest, and corn starch together. Stir well and then place over medium high heat. The amount of sugar will depend on how sweet your berries are. I had really sweet berries, so I used only half a cup of sugar; if your berries are more tart, you'll want to increase the sugar to 3/4 or 1 cup. Separately, soften the gelatin in 2 tablespoons of water.

Once the blueberry mixture has come to a boil and is nice and thick and well cooked, pour and then press through a sieve.


This process will leave you with a beautiful blueberry syrup. Add the softened gelatin, stir well, and then set aside to cool.

Once the blueberry syrup and the pie crust are cooled, mix the syrup with the remaining fresh blueberries. Toss well to be sure all berries are covered.

Lastly, pour the covered blueberries and syrup into the cooled pie shell. Cover and refrigerate at least four hours before serving.


Fresh Blueberry Pie
Yield: 1 - 9" pie

1 baked pie crust shell

1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup water
1/2 - 1 cup sugar (depends on berry sweetness)
1 TBS lemon juice
pinch nutmeg
pinch lemon zest
1 heaping TBS cornstarch
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 TBS cool water

3 more cups fresh blueberries

Mix the one cup of berries, one cup of water, sugar, nutmeg, zest, and cornstarch together in a medium sauce pan. Separately, mix the gelatin and 2 TBS water together in a small bowl and set aside. Heat the blueberry mixture over medium to medium high heat. Stir regularly until the mixture comes to boil and thickens well. Remove from the heat and press through a sieve, discarding solids. Stir in the softened gelatin mixture and set the syrup aside to cool.

Once the syrup and the pie crust (if necessary) are both cool, mix the remaining three cups of berries and the syrup together and pour into the pie shell. Chill at least four hours before serving.

Spiced Peaches

I'm really not sure how it happens that I go so long between posts sometimes. Sure, I'm busy, but I'm not that busy. Somehow, I turn around and two weeks (or longer) have passed me by. To be honest, if it weren't for my mom, it might even occasionally be longer between posts. Her gentle chiding, "I'm getting sick of looking at..." whatever it is I've had sitting there for a while is very motivating. And then I go look at my blog and think, "How can it really have been two weeks already? I could have sworn I just posted that recipe two days ago!" My how the time does fly! I guess that means I'm having fun, right? Or is it just that I'm getting older? Hmmm.... I think I'll stick with the former.

This is a great recipe. While you can forego the whole canning part and simply make a small amount to keep in the refrigerator for a week or so, I like to dive right in and make huge amounts when I have the chance.

A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for rosemary peach freezer jam and I mentioned that I also made some spiced peaches. Since then, I made another batch as well. I love this fruit stand that's set up in town. This time my five bucks paid for a box of cast off peaches that made fourteen pints of spiced peaches!

I've made canned peaches every way known to mankind and I've decided, for a number of reasons, that diced are the only way to go. First, you don't need perfect peaches (or cling free peaches). Second, you can prepare the fruit a whole heckuva lot faster. Third, you can fit more fruit in each jar, reducing your need for shelf space and processing time. Fourth, they don't look any less pretty than slices or halves, and they're the perfect bite sized pieces. I highly recommend going this route.

The first step is the remove the skins. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Drop 5-10 peaches into the water and count to 30 for really ripe peaches or one minute for slightly under ripe peaches. I really like to use the cast off, slightly overripe peaches because they have the best flavor.

Remove the peaches from the simmering water and drop into a sink or bowl full of cold water. Prepare a large bowl of cold water sprinkled with a little Fruit Fresh, citric acid, or lemon juice. As you peel and cut the peaches, drop them in this water so that they don't brown in the interim.

If you are working with cling peaches, where the fruit stubbornly does not release from the fruit, simply cut around the pit. No sense getting frustrated for nothing. Again, another reason why diced fruit is an easier way to go.

When you're almost done with the fruit preparation (20-30 minutes out), start 10 cups of water to simmering. Add the bundle of spices to flavor the syrup. You can use cheesecloth to keep the spices together (shown here), or...

you can use a cute little spice bag like this one. The spice bundle includes cinnamon, cloves, and all spice. Let the spices simmer in the water for 10 minutes or so and then add the sugar. Reduce the heat to hold the syrup until you are ready to heat the peaches.

Drain the peaches from the acidified water and rinse them off. Place the drained peaches into the pot of warm syrup. Increase the heat to medium or medium-high and let them heat through. You do not want them to boil. Meanwhile, get your boiling water canner ready if you are going to can the peaches. If you need a refresher on standard canning practices, check out my Canning 101 post.

Fill your clean jars with the hot peaches leaving a 1/2 inch head space. Use a plastic knife to remove air bubbles and then wipe the rims clean. Place heated lids and rings on and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes for pint containers and 25 minutes for quarts.

Spiced Peaches Yield: 8-14 pints peaches

10 cups water
4 - 3" cinnamon sticks
2 tsp whole cloves
2 tsp whole allspice
4 cups sugar
16 - 28 cups diced peaches (roughly 2 cups per pint)

Bring the water to a simmer. Place the spices in a spice bag or wrapped in cheesecloth. Place in the simmering water for 10-15 minutes. Water will be colored and very aromatic. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Reduce heat to low until ready to heat peaches.

Place peaches in simmering water for 30 seconds to one minute to facilitate slipping the skins off. Remove peaches from hot water and immediately place in a cold water bath. Remove pits and skins and any blemishes from the fruit. Dice into 1 cm cubed pieces. Drop into cold water mixed with a little bit of Fruit Fresh, citric acid, or lemon juice. When peaches are all prepared, drain and rinse the peaches. Place peaches in the warm syrup, increase the heat to medium or medium-high and heat until the peaches are hot through. Do not boil or simmer peaches.

Prepare a water bath canner and set the water to heating. Meanwhile, fill clean jars with peaches and syrup to a 1/2 inch head space. Use a plastic knife to remove bubbles and adjust syrup level as necessary. Wipe rims clean. Place heated lids and bands on jars and process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts. When processing time is up, remove canner from heat and let jars cool slightly in canner before removing. If they are removed right away, they often ooze syrup, making a mess. After 24 hours, remove the bands and clean jars before storing in a cool dark place for up to a year.

Tossed Caprese

I really like caprese salad, but I've always had a few issues with its traditional composition. Part of my issue is a flavor/texture concern, part is an aesthetic concern.

Let's start with the flavor/texture issue I have. And I will freely admit that I may be the only person on the planet who has this issue, but I doubt it. While I am quite sure that there are a large percentage of you who don't find this a problem, surely there are a few who will read this next bit and think, "Amen!"

I love, love, love basil, but I am not a fan of chewing on a whole leaf of basil. The texture is just so... well, tough. Plus, you don't start getting a good sense of the essential oils until you've chewed that leaf up pretty well. By that time, I'm ready to swallow and so I miss the best part!

What's the cure? Pour a potent basil oil over the salad with just a few shreds of basil for garnish. Make the basil oil by simply blending some extra virgin olive oil together with a handful of basil leaves. Not only does it taste great, but it has a lovely hue.

Issue two? Well, this one may be a little OCD, but when I set up a traditional caprese, I like my cheese slices and tomato slices to be of a similar size. But since tomatoes are mostly spherical, it's impossible to get consistently sized slices, so I tend to only end up using the middle slices of my tomatoes when making traditional caprese. Making a tossed caprese salad, where both the tomatoes and cheese are cut up into similarly sized pieces means I can stop fretting over the size of my tomato slices. (Phew!)

You can make my 30-minute homemade mozzarella cheese or buy fresh mozzarella at the market. Chop up the cheese and some tomatoes, whir together some basil oil, and grate on some fresh black pepper and sea salt, and you've got a beautiful, delicious tossed caprese!

Pecan Praline Weave

For almost six years, every time I opened my magazine clippings cookbook to the bread section, there was a recipe staring at me that always took my breath away. You would think since this bread looked so amazing and always made me drool uncontrollably that I might have tried to make it a little sooner. Part of the problem was that I knew it looked too good. I had to have a recipient ready and waiting to receive at least half of the creation, lest I eat myself into a gluttonous torpor.

Last week, I had multiple recipients, which worked out great since I ended up making the bread twice, two days in a row. I made it just how the recipe was written the first time. The second time, I made a number of adjustments. It was delicious both ways, but I think my adjustments made it a little better for two reasons. The first is that it is now easier to make; I can't abide by recipes that have a bunch of cup plus tablespoon measurements (as in "3 TBS plus 2 1/4 cups of flour"... I mean, really!) and unnecessary steps. I think I also managed to make it just a little less sinful.

It happens to be the strangest dough I've come across as far as the process of its mixing. You start out mixing a fairly stiff dough with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. (I think you could also mix this dough by hand, but it'll give you a bit of a workout.) My mixer was thumping a bit. Then you mix in the butter, which softens the dough up a lot... too much, to be honest. As a result, you have to finish up the dough with a little more flour, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl nicely. Spritz a bowl with some oil, put in the dough, cover with some plastic wrap, and let it sit to rise for one to two hours.

This dough is so nice to work with once it has risen. It's soft and supple and the gluten doesn't fight very much, which I appreciate when I'm trying to roll out a large rectangle of dough. Roll the dough out until it is about 16 x 13 inches. Be sure to transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment at this point. You'll need that parchment to transfer the loaf to the baking sheet later. It also is a very useful for rolling out the dough to the right size. Now imagine the dough divided into three sections, like a tri-fold brochure. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, make slices toward the center all along each side. Shoot for about 1/2 inch wide slices.

Mix together the filling and then crumble it down the middle of the dough evenly.

Then start "weaving" the arms across the middle as shown in this picture.

At the ends, tuck and/or fold to form a neat finish. Transfer the loaf to the sheet pan using the parchment paper. Cover the loaf loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about an hour and a half.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. When the loaf is properly risen and the oven is hot, remove the plastic wrap and brush with an egg yolk wash. The egg wash helps the loaf bake to a beautiful golden color. Bake 15 minutes and then rotate the pan 180 degrees. Then bake another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing and serving. Loaf stays tasty for three to four days when stored in an air tight container. It's almost too beautiful to eat! (Almost!).

Pecan Praline Weave
Yield: 1 16x5 inch loaf
Adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2005

Dough:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 TBS warm water
1/2 cup sour cream
4 TBS sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 TBS vanilla extract
3/4 tsp table salt
5 TBS softened butter
4 TBS all purpose flour

Filling:
1 cup toasted, chopped pecans
5 TBS softened butter
1 cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk & 1 TBS water for egg wash

Mix the initial amount of flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. In a separate bowl, mix the wawter, sour cream, sugar, egg yolks, extract, and salt together. Add to the flour mixture at speed 2 (on a Kitchen-Aid). Mix for 3-4 minutes. The dough will be quite stiff at this point. Add the butter and mix for another 3-4 minutes. Now the dough will be so soft it will not hold together. Add the remaining 4 TBS of flour and mix until the dough comes back together. Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and pat together into a ball. Place in an oiled bowl and then cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm place to rise until it has doubled, between one and two hours.

Roll the dough out on a floured board until it is slightly wider than an 16x12 sheet of parchment.You can't roll the dough out on the parchment, but you will want to transfer it onto the parchment as soon as it is the right size. The parchment can help measure the dough's dimensions. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice parallel cuts one-half inch apart from the sides in toward the middle of the dough. Visually divide the dough into three columns and leave the middle column uncut. (See picture).

Mix together the remaining butter, pecans, and brown sugar. Spread out evenly in the middle section of the dough. Begin folding the side pieces over one side and then the other, "weaving" them into a chevron design. Tuck or fold the ends over/under to form a clean finish. Cover loosely with plastic and let rise another one to two hours, until the loaf is puffy. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Brush the loaf with egg wash and then bake 30 minutes, rotating 180° halfway through. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack before slicing. Bread keeps quite well for 3-4 days if kept in an air tight container.

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

If you've been around here for any time at all, you may have started to notice a pattern. I am a huge fan of using cornmeal in baked goods, and if there are blueberries in said baked goods, even better. There's my cornmeal pie crust, a blueberry lemon cornmeal cake, and my lemon cornmeal cookies. I think you get the idea. And that idea is that cornmeal is just fabulous in so many baked goods.

This past weekend, I gave the combination a try in a pancake version. Wow! In this case, because the batter has a little more liquid, the cornmeal ended up a bit more subtle than in some of those other recipes, but it was still there and still a star player. These pancakes were great right off the griddle with syrup, but they were just as good five hours later as an out of hand snack. I highly recommend them!

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
Yield: approx. 16 4-inch pancakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup whole milk
3 TBS butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix together the first five, dry, ingredients. If you are using buttermilk powder, mix the powder in with the dry ingredients as well. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix the buttermilk (or its liquid), milk, butter, and egg together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. The mixture may be lumpy. Lastly, add the blueberries. If using frozen berries, I often will not add them to the batter since they start to melt and lead to purple pancakes. Instead, in that case, I place the berries into the pancake once it starts to cook on the griddle.

Heat a non-stick pan or griddle over medium heat. Place a small amount of butter in the pan and then wipe down with a paper towel. Spoon approximately 1/3 of a cup of batter on the griddle for each pancake for small, manageable pancakes. You can make them larger, but this size is easier to flip than large ones. Cook until they are slightly dry around the edges and they are nicely browned on the bottom. The top should be full of bubbles and have started to lose its batter look. Flip and continue cooking another two minutes. Extras can be kept warm in a low oven.

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Tart

This is one of those "put together" recipes. It has three separate components that I have previously posted put into one delicious dessert. In fact, my husband - who's not a huge sweets fan - told me the other nights that it was, "One of my best efforts." Whoo hoo! Of course, that means that it's tasty enough I've eaten it for lunch, snack, and dinner the last two days. It's a horrible thing, too, because my husband will look at me after dinner tomorrow and say he wants some of that awesome dessert I made the other day and I'll have to look sheepish and admit that I already polished the whole thing off. I hate it when that happens.

It's a horrible, wonderful thing. .:sigh:.

But here's how it goes. First, make a batch of my Perfect Graham Cracker Crust. Press it into a nine inch spring form pan such that a little bit of it rides up the sides half an inch or so. I reduced the sugar in the crust to only 1/4 of a cup in this case since I wanted to balance the sweet fruit topping a bit. Don't bake the crust yet for this dessert.

Then mix up a batch of my Mini-Cheesecake filling. It has a nice lemony flavor that compliments those blueberries oh so well. Pour the prepared filling into the unbaked crust.

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Place the pan in the oven and reduce the heat to 350° F. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the filling is set but not browned in any way. While you can use a cake tester to test for doneness, I just use the "jiggle" test. Gently jiggle the pan and if the center does not jiggle with it, it's finished. Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake remain in the oven for another ten minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Lastly, prepare a batch of blueberry topping that is very similar to my Maple Blueberry Topping. In this case, however, we're going to omit the maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg. We're also going to increase the sugar to 1/3 of a cup. The other change is that we'll only actually cook one cup of the blueberries. We'll add the last cup after the mixture has cooked, thickened, and cooled slightly. I really love the way those fresh blueberries taste in the cooked blueberry mixture. It's my secret weapon! Once the blueberry mixture has cooled and the cheesecake has cooled, pour the blueberries on top! Refrigerate at least four hours before serving.

Now who wouldn't want a slice of this heaven?!?

Spinach Pasta

I'm not gonna lie to you. Making homemade pasta can be very time consuming. How time consuming depends on the shape. Today, I'm going to walk you through a basic spinach pasta dough recipe. Once the dough is made, you can process it into any shaped pasta you please. If you want something fast, you can go for fettuccini (or even taglioni - wide ribbons - if you don't have a pasta machine). I'm going to show you how to make farfalle pasta, aka bowties. This may be one of the most time consuming pasta shapes to make. Why do I still do it occasionally? Because they're so darn cute and they make a wonderful gift.

The first step in making spinach pasta is preparing the spinach puree. I often think about making this dough after I realise I bought a bag of spinach and then forgot to use it before it started getting a little funky around the edges. Not all of the spinach is bad, so I dump the bag into a sink full of water. This allows me to pick out the nasty pieces and rinse off any goo left behind from those nasty pieces. You can, of course, use fresh, beautiful spinach; I - unfortunately - am never that organized.

In my experience, you'll want to avoid using frozen spinach or spinach that is too mature because it is too fibrous and will not puree well enough and you could end up with fibers that don't cut easily, making it very hard to form the pasta. Not good.

Prepare a pan with a steamer insert and a little water. Steam the spinach until it is evenly wilted.
Then put the spinach into a food processor. You can add some water to help it puree. You'll have to let it drain regardless, so you might as well make your life easier. Once the spinach is nice and smooth, spoon it into a fine mesh sieve and let it sit and drain for a few hours. At this point, you can continue with the recipe or freeze the puree for later use. Since the recipe requires one half cup of puree, I freeze cups with that premeasured amount.

When you get ready to make the pasta dough itself, place the ingredients together in a stand mixer. You could, of course, mix this by hand, but that certainly sounds like a lot of effort to me! Especially with this dough. For some time, you're going to look at this mixture and wonder how it is ever going to come together, it looks so dry. You'll be sorely tempted to add some water. Don't!

Just give it a little more time and it will turn into a beautiful, green dough. This is a fairly soft dough to begin with, so if you add any extra water you will really be in a world of hurt. In fact, once it comes together, if it's still tacky, you may want to add a little extra flour. Knead for an additional 4-5 minutes after the dough comes together. Take the dough out and pat it into a ball. Spray a little oil on a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap the dough up to sit for a couple of hours before continuing.


Notice that after the dough rests, it will look a lot more workable. Divide the dough into six even pieces. At this point, you could roll it out with a rolling pin as thin as you can and cut it into strips with a pizza cutter. It will be delicious. If you want to go a little more gourmet, pull out the pasta roller. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer with the pasta roller attachment. It comes with a flat roller, a spaghetti roller, and a fettuchini roller. When making faralle, or bowties, I only use the flat roller. As I mentioned before, this dough is fairly soft and sticky, so have plenty of flour on hand. It will make a fine fettuchini, but I don't recommend trying to make spaghetti or any other "fine" pastas.

Take one of the pieces and dust it liberally with flour. Run it through the pasta roller until it is flat and fairly thin. Don't go too thin or you will have a mess. Bowties are usually a fairly thick pasta and that's a really good thing with this somewhat challenging to roll pasta dough (compared to plain old egg pasta dough, anyway). With my KitchenAid roller, I go up to setting six. Then lay the sheet down on a floured counter. I like to use semolina flour at this point because it keeps things from sticking without making my pasta all white. Also, if you have a lot of all purpose flour stuck to your pasta when it dries, it can get a little gummy when it cooks.

Lay the sheet out and use a pizza roller to cut long strips about 3/4 to 7/8 of an inch wide. Then use a ravioli cutter (with fluted edges) to cut the ribbons into individual pieces about 1 3/8 inch long. Have a large sheet tray with a parchment liner ready to accept your finished farfalle.

For each piece, squeeze the middle together until it sticks, forming that classic shape.

The pieces can then be transferred onto your sheet tray to dry. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours or until they are nice and brittle. Then place them in an airtight container for storage. They are best used within 2 to 3 months. When you go to prepare them, I find that homemade pasta tends to cook more quickly than store bought, so check for doneness early.


Spinach Pasta
Yield: about 1 pound of pasta

1/2 cup of drained spinach puree (from about 6 oz fresh spinach)
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Add all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Mix and knead on fairly low speed 3-4 minutes after the dough finally comes together. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with a little cooking spray, place the dough inside and wrap up. Let dough sit and rest for 2 hours. After it has rested, divide dough into six pieces and shape as desired. Use semolina flour to prevent sticking. Finished pasta can be frozen or dried to prolong storage.

Here's a picture of what the finished farfalle looked like when I was packaging it to sell. This pasta makes a great gift that anyone would be happy to receive!

Venison Cabernet

I know there are a lot of you out there that probably don't have access to wild game. If you don't hunt, don't know someone who hunts, or don't live near a specialty grocery store, you're probably out of luck. You can certainly make this dish with beef, and it will be delicious, but it won't be the same. Wild game has a distinctive flavor. Often, folks refer to this as "gaminess", but they are usually misspeaking, as I discussed in a post about baked rabbit.

I adore wild game. Elk is my favorite, but since I left the moutainous west almost eight years ago, I haven't had much opportunity to cook with it. Venison, on the other hand, actually got easier to have around once I married. I hunted venison before I got married, but having the time and resources made it a haphazard affair. Fortunately, I married into venison! I know, that sounds weird, doesn't it? Funny thing, though, my brother-in-law, who is a big hunter, tied the knot with a vegetarian. It's definitely been a good thing for me. I've had a non-stop stock of venison ever since.

While I cook all kinds of venison dishes, this is my favorite "quick" dish (as opposed to roasts, and such). The boldness of the Cabernet stands up to and accentuates the flavor of the meat and creates a delicious sauce to boot. I've served it over a number of things, but pasta is my favorite. Bow ties look beautiful and are a chewy and satisfying partner to this dish.

Venison Cabernet
Yield: 4 servings

1 lb small cubes of venison chops, steaks, or tenderloin
1 TBS vegetable oil
1/3 cup sliced shallots
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 cups quartered mushrooms
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
1 cup beef broth
3 TBS cornstarch
1 cup Cabernet wine
salt & pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the meat pieces and brown on all sides. Depending on the size of your pot, you may need to brown the meat in batches. If the pieces don't have enough leg room in the pan they will steam instead of brown. Remove the meat and set aside.

If necessary, add another drizzle of oil to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots, mushrooms, garlic, and thyme. Cook until browned and soft. Deglaze the pan with the beef broth. Return the meat to the pan. Mix the wine and cornstarch until there are no lumps and add to the pan, stirring to mix everything together. Bring to a simmer and cook for twenty minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta or potatoes.