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Saturday, April 25. 2009
Homemade pasta in just a few minutes
This isn't a recipe for pasta, we'll post that some other time. I can say that we used ingredients we had around already for this dinner; flour, eggs, lemons, some parsley, garlic, tomato paste, and pine nuts for added crunch. However, I found the process of making the pasta very easy and enjoyable, which I wanted to share. I did make some of the pasta, but Aaron was showing me since he's made it before. We had enough to save and freeze what we didn't eat, for some other day.
First, you start with the appropriate dough pieces. This shows the before and after states.
We have a Kitchen Aid mixer, and the corresponding pasta roller and cutter attachments. Pasta can be rolled out by hand or dedicated machines as well, but the mixer attachments made this quick work. This picture shows rolling out the dough. You start at the widest setting then gradually get to the thinnest one or two settings. As you go through this process, you need to add flour on the noodle surfaces periodically so the dough does not stick to the rollers.
You catch the pasta as it flattens out and carefully feed it back in. Be careful the motor is not taxed too much by feeding in dough that is wider than the current setting will allow.
As we were doing this, we had a nice hot pot of water heating up to boil the noodles.
we dressed the noodles with: lemon zest, pine nuts (slightly browned first), garlic, parsley, and a little bit of tomato paste (not shown).
It is finally time to swap to the pasta cutter attachment; here is a picture of the fresh pasta after slicing.
Next, we boiled and drained it. We combined with our ingredients, and it was time to eat the fresh pasta. It was delicious!
First, you start with the appropriate dough pieces. This shows the before and after states.
We have a Kitchen Aid mixer, and the corresponding pasta roller and cutter attachments. Pasta can be rolled out by hand or dedicated machines as well, but the mixer attachments made this quick work. This picture shows rolling out the dough. You start at the widest setting then gradually get to the thinnest one or two settings. As you go through this process, you need to add flour on the noodle surfaces periodically so the dough does not stick to the rollers.
You catch the pasta as it flattens out and carefully feed it back in. Be careful the motor is not taxed too much by feeding in dough that is wider than the current setting will allow.
As we were doing this, we had a nice hot pot of water heating up to boil the noodles.
we dressed the noodles with: lemon zest, pine nuts (slightly browned first), garlic, parsley, and a little bit of tomato paste (not shown).
It is finally time to swap to the pasta cutter attachment; here is a picture of the fresh pasta after slicing.
Next, we boiled and drained it. We combined with our ingredients, and it was time to eat the fresh pasta. It was delicious!
Friday, December 26. 2008
Winter herbs
I love fresh herbs. Over our first summer here, we did manage to keep a fair number of herbs growing in our garden, in spite of the thunderstorms and fencing project (which for those who don't know, meant the removal of the raised boxes - to be relocated next spring). But, by August or so most of the herbs had bolted (a fancy way of saying they started making seeds). So we were left with no more our own, and the prospect of a long New England winter before we could get more. I began looking into ways to grow herbs indoors. Somewhere in the back of my noggin I'd heard about Aerogardens and that was one of the possible solutions I looked into. Most of the reviews seemed positive.
A short time later, my parents gave us a gift and I used it to get the Aerogarden Pro 100. The Aerogarden is a small hydroponic system with pre-designed kits for herbs, veggies, or plants. It comes with a power compact growing light, nutrient tablets, and needs some water.
With the amount of cooking we do ourselves, fresh herbs can make a big difference. However, when we buy them, at least half goes to waste and the idea of being able to just take what we needed, when we needed it was very appealing. I wasn't sure how it'd turn out, if it was more gimmick than reality, but we were willing to give it a try.
We got our Aerogarden set up around October 11th. The Pro comes with an herb kit for growing Thyme, two types of Basil, Mint, Chives, Parsley, and Dill. There are many kits available on the Aerogrow site, and the reviews available on them will help me decide future kits to try. Anyway, we got it all set up within a few minutes, and the next few days were spent peering eagerly to try and see any hint of a seed coming up. In just two or three days, all of the seed pods had started growing, and it became a wait until the plants were established enough for some light use.
By early November, we had good plants established and were able to do some careful harvesting of a small amount. We even had to raise the lamp up (there is an adjustable arm). We've since had prolific growth with regular harvests and no sign of it letting up.
Oh, and the power loss which meant no light or flowing water on the roots for 3 days did wipe out both basil plants, but the Italian (green) basil is amazingly sending up new leaves. I am pretty sure in no time we'll be harvesting it again. The routine upkeep is minimal and foolproof. While it was designed for people with apartments and no space to garden, for our winter needs it is doing a great job!
The only negative comments are two: one, the light is very bright. Even in our kitchen it lights up all the way to the bedroom. But it is in the best place to be convenient for cooking. Also, I'm also sure it's not a cost savings between the kit price and electric, however I don't have to go anywhere for herbs and don't waste any, so maybe it balances somehow...
All in all I'd give the Aerogarden a 4.5 out of 5!
Here is our Aerogarden as of a few days ago; it's been running for a few months and I'm expecting to get to March with these herbs.
A short time later, my parents gave us a gift and I used it to get the Aerogarden Pro 100. The Aerogarden is a small hydroponic system with pre-designed kits for herbs, veggies, or plants. It comes with a power compact growing light, nutrient tablets, and needs some water.
With the amount of cooking we do ourselves, fresh herbs can make a big difference. However, when we buy them, at least half goes to waste and the idea of being able to just take what we needed, when we needed it was very appealing. I wasn't sure how it'd turn out, if it was more gimmick than reality, but we were willing to give it a try.
We got our Aerogarden set up around October 11th. The Pro comes with an herb kit for growing Thyme, two types of Basil, Mint, Chives, Parsley, and Dill. There are many kits available on the Aerogrow site, and the reviews available on them will help me decide future kits to try. Anyway, we got it all set up within a few minutes, and the next few days were spent peering eagerly to try and see any hint of a seed coming up. In just two or three days, all of the seed pods had started growing, and it became a wait until the plants were established enough for some light use.
By early November, we had good plants established and were able to do some careful harvesting of a small amount. We even had to raise the lamp up (there is an adjustable arm). We've since had prolific growth with regular harvests and no sign of it letting up.
Oh, and the power loss which meant no light or flowing water on the roots for 3 days did wipe out both basil plants, but the Italian (green) basil is amazingly sending up new leaves. I am pretty sure in no time we'll be harvesting it again. The routine upkeep is minimal and foolproof. While it was designed for people with apartments and no space to garden, for our winter needs it is doing a great job!
The only negative comments are two: one, the light is very bright. Even in our kitchen it lights up all the way to the bedroom. But it is in the best place to be convenient for cooking. Also, I'm also sure it's not a cost savings between the kit price and electric, however I don't have to go anywhere for herbs and don't waste any, so maybe it balances somehow...
All in all I'd give the Aerogarden a 4.5 out of 5!
Here is our Aerogarden as of a few days ago; it's been running for a few months and I'm expecting to get to March with these herbs.
