Bring It On

I've been cooking like crazy this week. Often I feel that my food, though pretty, lacks real flavor and that "God damn it, this is goooodd." that I'm looking for. Or maybe I've eaten at too many restaurants. This might also be due to the fact that I rarely make the same thing more than once or twice. I don't have a repertoire of dishes I excel at. I'm working on changing that but I am a perfectionist. And yet, while I write this I can't believe I still haven't done it. So I'm a lazy perfectionist.

The fat girl in me was coming out this week and I sought out comfort foods that I could grub down on. I decided on lasagna. We were missing ricotta, mozzarella, basil and only had a little tomato sauce but I didn't let that bother me. But get this, I made pasta from scratch for the first time. We bought a pasta maker a few weeks ago and though J has used it many times I usually whimpered away. Good fresh pasta requires tough burly hands which I unfortunately (and thankfully) do not possess. Have you ever seen Mario Batali's hands?? I enlisted the help of Mayo (never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth, but I mean the person and not the spread) and he walked me through it while on the evil black box.

Making pasta from scratch isn't a joke-it's tough work. If you thought I was a pansy making Pici! you should have seen my face kneading pasta dough. Kneading dough is a pain in the ass. It requires at least 10 full minutes of paw pain. During the process I thought to myself, 'Who needs fresh pasta sheets anyway?' but I'm not a quitter (or least trying not to be) so I persevered. In the end, it was all worth it and I realized that it was quite simple but still a pain in the poon.

I don't know if you could really call this a lasagna but I made do with pecorino romano and a little parmigiano reggiano. I also wasn't sure if I was supposed to boil the sheets first or just bake them. I chose the latter and it was fine except the first layer burnt a little but that was because there wasn't a thick layer of cheese to cover it! I was determined not to go grocery shopping this week.

Sausage, roasted peppers, spinach. Who says you need ricotta? Maybe a little would've helped.

Later that same day we decided on ____ Noodle (Asian-y?) soup. Last week I made a nice roasted chicken and finally got around to making stock from the lovely bones. Sounds so familiar doesn't it?? I've never met a man who read that by the way. Are you out there? The stock was sublime. I threw in not one, but three bay leaves, peppercorns and fresh herb from the Farmer's Market and simmered away for about 5 hours. We saved the wonderful juices from the roasted chicken and added it to the stock. I even froze it ziploc bags and used all the nerdy suggestions from Cook's Illustrated. I wonder if I'll ever be one of those psychos that freezes stock in ice cube trays. Not that I don't wish I had that in the freezer, I just don't have enough ice cube trays.

After making fresh lasagna sheets and subjecting my hands to pain, pain and more pain. I told J I was making Asian-y chicken soup and he suggested fresh egg noodles. I never back down from a challenge so I used this opportunity to practice making pasta dough again. And my little masochistic self agreed. Sure enough, it was a little easier the second time around. I was encouraged to throw the dough at the counter and it proved to be one of my favorite things.

I've been using good chicken broth from cartons (I blame Rachel Ray) but after using homemade, I don't think I'll be able to go back. The egg noodles turned out very well, I knew it wasn't super authentic but in Chinese restaurants they serve thin egg noodles so why not wide? I sauteed a good amount of ginger, two whole cloves of garlic, a few whole peppercorns, two bay leaves and threw in a whole cinnamon stick to the broth. I added soy sauce and a tiny bit of fish sauce and let it simmer. The broth was rich and full of depth. So much better than the stuff from the carton. Adding the cinnamon stick really does wonders to the soup. Who knew?

Sucky ass apartment lighting. Can't bring ourselves to purchase lamps.

Another thing I've started doing is frying garlic slices with tiny bits of shallots. They add great flavor and are nice little brown fried crispy things. I added the leftover chicken we had, baby bok choy at the end and a little tofu- a cheap, soft, healthy source of added protein. Top with green onions, thin slices of raw onions and cilantro. Maybe a few shakes of crushed red pepper flakes if you're feeling adventurous. I go crazy with lemons but that's just me. Afterwards J told me he thought I said I was making regular chicken noodle soup which meant I could've used rice noodles. But I'm glad we didn't.

Lastly, apple cinnamon coffee cake for dessert/breakfast. I've never used apples for a coffee cake but it made the cake [in Giada voice] moist, light, fluffy with soft hints of apple. I browned Granny Smith apples in butter, sugar and cinnamon. The cake was mostly for J, who loves all sweets like no other. It turned out very nicely and stayed moist for days, which is rare for a coffee cake. Even the topping was good. Cook's Illustrated again. Why are they called coffee cakes?

This was taken on day 3, the top was much better looking on day 1. Small plate man.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and play a $.10 tournament. I know, I'm living the life.