Pasta Wednesday

The past few weeks have been busy with work and The Sun going on vacation.  So, our apologies that this post is now 3 weeks overdo.  


This specific Wednesday, The Wolf had had an hour long meeting right in the middle of cooking time one block up the street from the Wednesday Dinner Kitchen.  In order for The Sun not to be too overwhelmed, we decided to make simple pasta dishes.  Even still, Joshua Bates and The Witch were a big help.
The Menu: rotini with penne vodka and chicken on the side, tortellini with creamy pesto, and salad.  
The Wolf very kindly set up The Sun with two work stations before he left.

                                    

Vodka Sauce

Salt

28 ounce can whole plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 shallots, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ cup vodka

2/3 cup heavy cream

½ cup Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

Fresh basil leaves, torn, plus more for topping

 

Crush tomatoes with your hands.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds.  Remove from the heat and add vodka, tomatoes, and salt.  

 Return to medium heat and simmer until the alcohol cooks off, about 6 minutes.  Stir in the heavy cream and cook until the sauce thickens.  Stir in the parmesan and basil.  When serving, add more parmesan and basil.  

                                                     The Witch kindly helping

Creamy Basil Pesto Recipe

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed in

½ cup Parmesan cheese

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 medium sized garlic cloves

1/3 cup Ricotta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Combine the basil and garlic in a food processor.  Pulse.  Slowly add a stream of olive oil into the processor while it is running.  Add the Parmesan and pulse again.  Fold in Ricotta cheese to desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper and serve over pasta.  *Thank you, Joshua Rott, for making delicious pesto for us.

 

For whatever reason, we took no pictures of the food that night.  I'm sure The Bean did and then held them hostage.  Oh, well. 

                                                 Thank you, Bo, for tossing our salad

                                                   Kenny

                                                 Where'd those come from??

                                                   The Bean and The Wolf

      Our special guest, Israel bound Thomas, eating dessert first per his request

                                                  Obligatory Emo Jon Shot

                                                   Joshua Bates and Ferny

*** On a side note, the blog was almost deleted permanently today.  Thank you, Kyle Aaron, for helping us.

CALZONE NIGHT IS FINALLY HERE

Several weeks ago you may remember that we voted on calzone night.  The Sun’s phone was broken at the time and so we were relying on The Bean to take pictures.  Well, after literally weeks of her holding the pictures hostage . . . we bring you: Calzone Night!

The winners:

Veggie calzone: broccoli, ricotta, and mozzarella

Meat calzone: pepperoni, spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella

We decided to wing it with the recipes.  We got dough from our local pizza place, Highland Pizza. 

Our guest chef, Bambi, is now taking over to explain to you how she made our calzones and her commentary.

Recipe

1.   Stretch a fist sized ball of dough into a circle – As thin as possible.

2.   Fill with veggies, cheese, meat, sauce. Make sure to place in the center and to not overfill.

3.   Fold over and seal by using a little bit of egg wash and either pressing with a fork or pinching shut with fingers.

4.   Brush the top of the calzone with more egg wash.

5.   Place in baking dish and bake at 350 until golden brown.

6.   Serve with dipping sauces.

Calzone Making
This is a 2-person job – One person to stretch out the dough, another to put in the fillings and seal it up. I think that because we put the dough in the fridge before working with it, it became too elastic, too stretchy.  Also – one may think that sealing a calzone is a simple thing to do. We tried forking it, pinching it, sealing with olive oil, and then with egg wash. The egg wash seemed to work the best after a few failed attempts where I was certain that everyone would be eating open-faced calzones that night. Calzone tips: Don’t refrigerate the dough, stretch the dough out as thin as possible as it will poof up a lot during baking, don’t overstuff the calzone, flour the board and your hands, use egg wash as opposed to olive oil.

Use any ingredients you like, and enjoy!  

                                                  The Sun overseeing Bambi's process

                                                        Some of the final products

Thank you, Bambi!

Anyway, as Bambi and The Wolf made the calzones, The Sun made the sauces.  We had ricotta sauce, spicy fresh tomato sauce, and regular marinara (store bought).

                                                                  Heating up the sauces

Ricotta Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups ricotta

1/3 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Oregano or Italian seasoning blend

Red pepper flakes to taste

Heat up oil in a sauce pan to coat the bottom.  Place ricotta cheese in and stir in heavy cream slowly, careful not to add too much liquid.  Blend together until smooth and reduce if too thin. Add seasoning and serve for dipping immediately.

Spicy Tomato Sauce

1 28 oz can of crushed and peeled tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

pepper flakes

1 clove garlic

dried oregano

In a food processor or blender, place all of the ingredients together and mix until smooth. Once blended, simmer in a sauce pan and reduce as necessary.  Adjust seasoning, adding more pepper flakes until desired level of spiciness.

In addition, The Bean prepared us a lovely meat and cheese plate:

                                                             The Bean hard at work

                                                          Everyone in the process

                                                   Final and delicious product (thanks, Beanie!)

 

The Wolf brought over chocolate cake:

  Jules made salad (thank you, Jules) in true co-op fashion.  And then it was time to eat :-) 

                                            Guests sitting around waiting

                                      Vegetarian Shaaaaaarrrkkkkk eats all the kelp in the oceaaaannn

                                                            Time to eat

                                                                Katie, a first timer

                                                        The Beans obligatory food shot, thanks!

                                                          After dinner, Jon is always so happy...

                                                                      Oh, and then this happened. . .

Thank you all and please come back soon! 

Irish Night

This past week the Sun was off from work.  Usually, the Wolf gets off work several hours before the Sun does and therefore our cooking begins at around 6:00.  However, taking advantage of the free time, we decided to make something that would take longer than we usually have time for: beef and Guinness stew.  Placed atop mashed potatoes and accompanied by sautéed red cabbage, this meal is perfect for less mild winters.  Or, you know, a night of drinking.

For the stew:
 Serves 12

 4 pounds lean stewing beef, trimmed and cut into bite size cubes
6 tablespoons oil
6 tablespoons flour
salt, pepper, Cayenne
4 large onions, coarsely chopped 
4 tablespoons tomato puree, dissolved into 8 tablespoons beef stock
 1 cup additional beef stock
2 cups Guinness stout beer
4 cups carrots
2 cups mushrooms
parsley

Toss beef in 3 tablespoons oil (if you do not have a large enough bowl, work in batches). In separate bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, and Cayenne.  Toss beef in flour combination until lightly coated. 
Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil over high heat in large pan.  Brown the meat on all sides.

 Once meat is lightly browned, transfer to a large pot over medium heat.  Add onions, tomato puree mixture, and 1 cup Guinness. As this settles, add 1 cup Guinness and remaining 1 cup beef stock to the pan where you browned your meat. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve caramelized meat and meat juices. 

 Once the bottom of your pan is completely deglazed, transfer contents into large pot.  Add the carrots and bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring down to medium low heat and simmer for about 1 hour.  

 After one hour, add mushrooms and bring back to a boil and then down to medium low heat.  

Wait.

After another 1 and a half to 2 hours, taste and correct seasoning.  Reduce (as we did) if you find the stew to be too liquid-y.   

As you are waiting on your stew, get started on your mashed potatoes.

For this you will need:

 4 pounds golden creamer potatoes, halved
salt and pepper
2 cups heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Boil potatoes until soft.  Drain.  Pour heavy cream and add butter.  Mash until of desired consistency.   Salt and pepper to taste.  

 

Additionally, get started on your red cabbage.

Sauteed red cabbage:

 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 red cabbage, thinly chopped or shredded
4 tablespoons sugar
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons mustard seed (optional, we didn't use this)

Heat a skillet over medium high heat.  Add oil and onions and saute 2 minutes.  Add cabbage and keep turning it until it wilts, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add vinegar and turn the cabbage in it.  Add sugar, salt, and pepper (and mustard seed if using) and turn again.  Let cabbage cook for another 5 or so minutes or until ready to serve.

Serve stew over mashed potatoes and alongside the cabbage.

                                                         Eat!

 The beautiful Jenny Mintz brought over vegan margarita cupcakes for dessert.  Thanks, again! 

                                         I think Ariana was being Jules

                Special and rare guests Jules and Kerri (see below for more on this)

                                           Matt and Jon post dinner

                                   The Sun and The Wolf, post cooking

                                The Wolf, Ramer, Jenny, Joshua Bates

                                  The Wolf and his love, The Witch

                                         The Sun, Ariana, and Jenny

                                         Jules and Kerri, end of night 

On a side note, as we started to put out feelers for this upcoming weeks dinner, the Sun received an e-mail from Jules with a picture attached:

Dearest Sawl (the Sun),

Your dinners are really great and I cherish the times that I have had at them. But I'm at a point my life where I just cant commit to one Wednesday dinner. There are still so many places and things I want to see on a Wednesday nights. I'm just not ready to settle down. It's not your dinners, it's me. I hope in time, the emotional wounds I have inflicted on you will heal. Perhaps someday, we can even be friends again on Wednesday nights. Until then, you will forever be in my thoughts on Wednesday evenings. 

Sincerely,

Jules

In response to this, all is in fact forgiven as Jules stumbled upon this gem. . .the now official (not really, dont sue us) band for Wednesday night dinners:
The Sun and The Wolf The Band

Until next time. . .thanks for reading!