I originally made this recipe way back in 2007 for Weekend Herb Blogging (hosted this time around by its founder Kalyn). I loved how the lemon zest really spotlighted the flavour of basil – an herb that we used to grow at home. As soon as we get another plant I will update this post again to reflect a new pic Funny what a difference new cameras and experience have made in my shots, but it’s always good to see where one came from Enjoy!

From FoodReference.com
Basil is an annual herb of the mint family, native to central and tropical Asia and Africa (some say it originated in India). It is an important ingredient in Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian cuisine. Today it is cultivated commercially in California, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Italy, Madagascar, India and Mexico. It has been grown in areas around the Mediterranean since antiquity, but Britain did not begin using basil until the 16th century. The many varieties of this herb have seeds that can germinate after 10 years!
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In addition to its culinary uses, basil is also used in perfumes, soaps, shampoos and dental preparations. In Mexico it is supposed to keep a lover’s eye off others, and is considered a powerful protector in Haiti. During British colonial days in India, magistrates would have Hindu witnesses swear on this holy herb. It is recommended in Herbals for the relief of dysentery, gas pains, nausea, and as a cure for worms and worts.
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The ancient Greeks and Romans thought basil would only grow if you screamed wild curses and shouted intelligibly while sowing the seeds. They also believed if you left a basil leaf under a pot, it would turn into a scorpion. Many believed that even smelling the leaves would cause scorpions to grow in the brain! Salome hid John the Baptist’s head in a pot of basil to cover up the odor of it’s decomposition.
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Returning to some less morbid uses, in Italy it is a token of love, in Romania if a girl gives a sprig to her boyfriend, they are engaged, and a good Hindu goes to rest with a leaf on his breast as a passport to Paradise.

Well that’s some heady stuff! I just like it because of it’s slightly anise smell and ‘bright’ taste that perks up everything that you sprinkle it on

Basil in Italian dishes is a marriage made in heaven, and fresh basil simply can’t be beat. I decided to try the following recipe, of Pasta with Basil, Tomatoes and Lemon Zest, with the extremely delicious Mushroom Taglietelle that had been sent to me from Eva of Myra’s Kitchen. It takes only minutes to put together and the end result is bursting with flavour, satsfying, and, with primarily fresh ingredients undeniably, healthy!

Pasta with Basil, Tomatoes & Lemon Zest
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Ingredients:

4 big ripe tomatoes (1-1/2 lbs), coarsely chopped
zest from 1/2 lemon (yellow part only, none of the white) in 1-inch slivers
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1-2 teaspoon salt
black pepper, freshly ground
spaghetti to serve

Directions:

1. Put a tiny pot of water on the stove to boil while you start to chop the vegetables.
2. When it comes to the boil, blanch the lemon zest for a few seconds – then drain.
3. Mix together in a large bowl all ingredients EXCEPT the spaghetti. Let it sit for 1 to 4 hours, giving it a stir now and then.

4. When you are ready to eat, cook the pasta according to the package directions, as usual, drain, and add it to the tomato mix. Toss. Taste for seasoning. Serve immediately.

Makes 4-6 servings

This post was originally published May 7, 2007. It has been updated once since then.

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From Epicentre.com:
Ginger is one of those ingredients that can be many things to many people. Not only is it used in cuisines around the world, but it also comes in a variety of forms fresh, pickled, dried, and crystallized among them
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People who bake may immediately call to mind the ground ginger they use in gingerbread or the jewel-like crystallized ginger they add to holiday cookies and cakes. Others think first of ginger’s savory contributions: the brightness that minced fresh ginger adds to Chinese stir-fry, or the refreshing tang of pickled ginger served with sushi.
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Rarely used as the sole flavouring in recipes, ginger combines particularly well with the warm spice notes of cumin and coriander in savory preparations. Garlic, mustard seed, turmeric, and the whole palette of Indian seasonings would shine less brightly without ginger’s glow. In sweets such as quick breads, muffins, and preserves, ginger is part of a classic triumvirate along with cinnamon and cloves.
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In each of its incarnations, however, ginger makes its simultaneously hot and refreshing presence known.

Top 10 Recipes Featuring Ginger on TriniGourmet.com

	1. Carmen’s Jamaican Ginger Beer (recipe) My mom’s traditional family recipe for Jamaican Ginger Beer
	2. Carrot, Ginger and Cumin Salad (recipe) The following is my take on a very popular Middle Eastern salad. The parsley and lemon juice give the carrots much needed brightness, while the cumin deepens all the flavours, creating an exotic side that complements most dishes
	3. Sarina’s Sparkling Ginger-Lime Shandy (recipe) Bubbly and sweet with a slight tang of lemon and beer. An unusual refreshment that is sure to garner raves!
	4. Sarina’s Spinach-Ginger Salad (recipe) This quick and simple salad is perked up by the addition of slivered stem ginger. Stem ginger is an ingredient that doesn’t get as much love as I think it should. It’s usually found in the baking aisle, but at times I have seen it hiding rather uncomfortably in the aisles that house ‘international ingredients’ and/or random salad dressings.
	5. Sarina’s Bubbly Guava-Ginger Ale (recipe) A light and refreshing non-alcoholic cooler.
	6. Butternut Squash Soup With Ginger (recipe) Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine, this warm and creamy soup became an instant classic in my home and graced the table at last year’s Passover Seder.
	7. Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread (recipe) Rich, coffee laced chocolate icing forms the perfect counterfoil to the sweeter chocolate gingerbread base. Studded with slivers of fresh (as well as crystallized) ginger and chocolate chips this gingerbread has no problem staying light, moist and vibrantly flavoured. It’s without a doubt the best gingerbread I’ve ever made, and the best gingerbread I’ve ever had!
	8. Fruit & Nut Cookies (recipe) Gingerbread fruit and nut ‘cookies’ are colorful, festive, and not-too sweet. Perfect for any gathering from formal to informal.
	9. Iced Lemon Ginger Tea (recipe) This drink is wonderfully refreshing and has a soft muted tone, thanks to the use of honey. Not only does the honey take the sharpness off the ginger flavour, it also makes this drink especially soothing on the throat.
	10. Get Your C Ginger-Lime Tea (recipe) This recipe for Ginger-Lime tea comes from Everyday With Rachael Rayand is chock-full of goodness. Fresh lime/lemon juice provides a boost of vitamin C, and grated ginger brings powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. The combination of citric sweetness and spicy heat is not just good for chilling out on an afternoon but the health benefits also make it the perfect pick-me-up if you are feeling queasy, or like a cold is coming on.

5 More Ginger Inflected Recipes from my favourite Food Blogs!

1. Ginger Beef Patties with Lime Noodle Salad (sidewalk shoes) 2. Bajan Sweet Potato Pie Ice Cream (Vegan In The Sun) 3. Iced Ginger Chai (elana’s pantry) 4. Fresh Ginger and Basil Pasta (Kahakai Kitchen) 5. Asian Salmon Burgers with Tangy Ginger Lime Sauce (Mommie Cooks)

Have questions about Ginger? Tweet me! I’d love to hear from you

Want more ideas? Here are 5 Ginger Intensive Cookbooks, picked for your enjoyment

	1. Spoonful of Ginger Part cookbook, part primer of Chinese medicine, Nina Simonds’s A Spoonful of Ginger offers dietary advice, herbal home remedies, and lively, unintimidating Asian recipes for the American home cook.
	2. Ginger and Ganesh: Adventures in Indian Cooking, Culture, and Love The recipes shared in this collection are far from ordinary; they are treasured family recipes from vegetarian homes in India — from homemade cheese cubes in a rich cilantro and almond curry to coconut-stuffed okra and luscious potato-curry dumplings. Power’s recipes and stories pave the road to understanding a culture that is at the same time ancient and so very much part of our modern world.
	3. Blue Ginger: East Meets West Cooking with Ming Tsai Blue Ginger offers many ways to spice up family meals and dishes to surprise guests without too much effort. Cooking from this book is an opportunity to take Asian ingredients you may have eaten in restaurants and master using them in your own kitchen.
	4. Ginger (The Basic Flavoring Series) A collection of 30 ginger recipes from around the world.
	5. Ginger: A Book of Recipes (Little Recipe Book)

This post was first published June 9, 2010. It has been updated once since then.

As a Caribbean girl I am always amazed by how little we know about our neighbours, and how little they know about us in turn. Surprisingly overarching stereotypes and negative assumptions continue to exist in an age where increased travel and interaction should have broadened understanding. This is bad enough when we share a common language, but when we don’t, the divide becomes even wider.

Earlier this year I met a man at a networking function who conducts business in Suriname. His descriptions of the country and the vast cultural differences intrigued me. Naturally, my curiosity leaned towards wanting to learn something more about their cuisine. Looking on a map one can’t fully appreciate how far apart our worlds are, but with little shared ties, and no common language we may as well be oceans away from each other.

I turned to Twitter and Facebook for help in my culinary search, and as expected little to none was forthcoming. However, Andrew Zimmern was oddly enough tweeting pictures of Suriname. Some of them really took my breath away. Eventually one person, a travel agent, asked me if I knew bami goreng. She was sure that I would enjoy it if no one had mentioned it before. Well no one had. I turned to the Internet again.

As a former colony of The Netherlands, the majority of Suriname-centric sites are in Dutch. What little I could pick out came purely from my 4 year flirtation with German many moons ago. Fortunately I was also able to find some English language references and from them I learnt that bami goreng is of Indonesian origin, but found its way to Surinam as a result of Dutch colonization. On the surface it appeared identical to the lo meins I have grown up loving however, this similarity is mostly cosmetic. Lighter, fresher and considerably sweeter, as a result of a mysterious sauce called kecap manis, bami goreng ends up completely different(by the way, did you know that the word ketchup came into the English language from this same, originally Cantonese, word? I did not until I made this dish!). Several visits to various Asian specialty stores failed to turn up this much-loved kecap manis so I was forced to use some substitution recipes that I found via this excellent post by Lydia of Perfect Pantry.

Ultimately, making a dish that one has never tasted before, especially one with cultural significance, is always a bit unnerving. You are never sure when you’ve hit the right note, or when you’ve veered off course. I read as many recipes as I could to try and find common threads. Some were bright crimson, dripping in sauce, others were not. I took this to maybe represent regional differences or author preferences. In the end I amalgamated the best I could and ploughed ahead. The end result was one I quite enjoyed. The bright tang of the fresh culantro melded well with the sweetness of the sauce, and the fresh, still somewhat crunchy vegetables created a light yet filling and healthy feeling. This is definitely a dish I will create again, but the next time around I think I’ll use a little bit more sauce as the noodles soak it up pretty quickly!

The success of my Bami Goreng ‘experiment’ made me even more curious to find dishes that were more distinctively Surinamese in origin/evolution. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t until I asked a Dutch friend (based in the Netherlands) that a flood of suggestions finally came. A huge fan of Surinamese cuisine he gave me name after name and was able to pepper everything with political history and mentions of their diverse cosmopolitan population (so similar, yet different to Trinidad). I have 3 marked to try in the coming weeks and can’t wait to share them with you Stay tuned!

Bami Goreng
SERVINGS: 6

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. chinese egg noodles
2 cups onions
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup sliced bok choy
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon pepper
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1/ 2 cup water
1/2 inch piece gingerroot
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon chili paste
1 carrot sliced thin
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro/culatnro/chadon beni
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon lime juice
10 tablespoons kecap manis (try this substitute recipe)
3 tablespoons oil

METHOD:

1. Prepare noodles according to directions.
2. Heat pan, add oil
3. Stir-fry onions, ginger and garlic for 2-3 minutes
4. Add chili paste and stir fry for an additional minute
5. Add vegetables (minus bean sprouts) and stir-fry 3-4 minutes Push to the side and add eggs, scramble.
6. Add noodles, kecap manis and ketchup. Stir-fry 3-4
6. Add stock and red pepper flakes and bean sprouts
7. Take off heat
8. Toss with lime juice
9. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts

For my first post to Macaroni Kid Trinidad, I put my own twist on Pasta Alla Norma. Instead of fried eggplant slices, vegetarian chickpea patties are added to a quick tomato sauce and fettuccine. From start to finish, you have everything you need to feed 4 in under 30 minutes! Want the recipe? Head over to Macaroni Kid Trinidad, and while you are there why not sign up for their newsletter. It’s full of wonderful kid and family-friendly activities and advice!

	1. Trinidad Macaroni Pie This dish is part of the traditional Trinidadian Sunday lunch and is also offered in cubed form at BBQs and other casual outdoor functions. Feel free to play around with the proportions. – recipe here
	2.Gnocchi Pomodoro – recipe Silky, light, buttery, almost melt in your mouth good. “This is really comfort food defined”- recipe here.
	3. “You Won’t Be Single For Long” Vodka Cream Pasta (recipe) A dish that practically guarantees a proposal? Where can I sign up?! Sadly I have not had a chance to try it on any prospective suitors but after making it for my family I got many sated mumbles and murmurs

This post was originally published September 27, 2007. It has been updated once since then

Top 5 Pasta Recipes on TriniGourmet.com

	1. Trinidad Macaroni Pie (recipe) This dish is a stereotypical part of the traditional Trinidadian Sunday lunch and is also offered in cubed form at BBQs and other casual outdoor functions. Feel free to play around with the proportions. A sprinkling of parsley on top after it comes out of the oven, though not traditional, adds a dash of colour and enough appearance of ‘nutrition’ to soothe any guilt you may have over the comforting (but over the top) fatty starchy content
	2. Gnocchi Pomodoro (recipe) Silky, light, buttery, almost melt in your mouth good.
	3. “You Won’t Be Single For Long” Vodka Cream Pasta (recipe) I first learnt about this Rachael Ray dish on Oprah
	4. Bagna Romano (recipe) This recipe for Bagna Romano couldn’t be any simpler. Pasta, anchovies, garlic and cheese. That’s it! The pasta is so delicious it is a meal in itself!
	5. Baked Ziti With Cauliflower: Ziti Gratinati (recipe) There is something about the dishes that I’ve tried so far from America’s master chef Mario Batali. Something very clean, simple and almost spartan. I really appreciate how his recipes allow the flavours of his ingredients to shine, and how he creates an interplay of textures that never seems forced or contrived.

5 More Pasta Recipes from my favourite Food Blogs!

1. Penne al Arrabbiata (Palachinka) 2. Wholewheat Spaghetti with Kale (Serious Eats) 3. Chez Panisse Pasta with Roasted Eggplant (Confessions Of A Tart) 4. White Lasagna(The Amateur Gourmet) 5. Veggie-Loaded Spicy Peanut Noodles (Everything Rachael Ray)

And, if you want even more ideas. Here are 5 Pasta Cookbooks, picked for your enjoyment

When exploring the world of pasta, it’s important to not only realize the various forms that recipes for it can take, but also the wide variety of shapes, colors and textures that form the pasta lexicon. This assortment of hand-selected book will get you up and running in no time when it comes to understanding the two.

Enjoy!

	1. Classic Pasta Cookbook (Classic cookbook) First in line is Guiliano Hazan’s Classic Pasta Cookbook. The son of Italian cookbook extraordinaire, Marcella Hazan, the Classic Pasta Cookbook won the James Beard for Best International Cookbook in 1993 and has been published in 12 languages and 16 countries.
	Pasta e Verdura: 140 Vegetable Sauces for Spaghetti, Fusilli, Rigatoni, and All Other Noodles Many pasta books give short thrift to vegetarian sauces which is why I have also included (and love) Pasta e Verdura. This book has -nothing but- vegetarian sauces, 140 of them actually! Perfect for vegetarians and flexitarians (such as myself). Several of my readers have mentioned that they are taking part in the Meatless Monday movement (and if you are one of them, congrats!), so I hope that this book helps you in growing your repertoire
	3. The Pasta Bible: The Definitive Sourcebook, with over 1,000 Illustrations Spanning the worlds of Italian Pasta, Eastern European Noodles, as well as Asian, the Pasta Bible is replete, not only with recipes (and there are a lot of them!), but also photos and detailed history.
	4. Pasta This all-round workhouse cookbook, is simply called ‘Pasta’.
	5. The Essential Pasta Cookbook Not interested in all that historical lore? Just looking for some quick classics and maybe some new favourites? Then the Essential Pasta Cookbook will be right up your alley. What it lacks in romanticism and depth it more than makes up for in practicality of application. Hunger will never have a place to stay as long as this book is on your shelf

For these, and even more Italian cookbooks, visit the Italian section of Veni Mangé – my Amazon bookstore!

Hey, I’m back! For now at least I think this is the longest I’ve been ‘away’ since getting back into my blogging groove. My profuse apologies but sometimes, offline demands make themselves unavoidable and require all my attention!

So this and my next few posts (until the end of June) will be haiku-like in their brevity. This ricotta gnocchi was my first entry towards the newly launched Daring Cooks Challenge. Although I didn’t get to submit it on time it turned out so well I thought it would be a shame not to share it with you

The first step was draining the gnocchi, a step I thought I could skip as the gnocchi looked rather dry as I removed it from its container. Boy am I glad I didn’t though.

Look how much liquid I collected just by leaving it overnight in a tissue-lined sieve!

After that the gnocchi were relatively simple to prepare, maybe because I’ve made them before.

The final results were light and extremely buttery in flavour (an unexpected pleasure). They were so delicate that I quickly regretted overwhelming them with a Tuna Puttanesca sauce. It was one of those ideas that worked more in theory than execution. Next time I’ll keep it barebones. Just a simple basil-butter sauce!

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
Source: The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco’s Beloved Restaurant

Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients:

For the gnocchi:

* 1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
* 2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 tablespoon (½ ounce) unsalted butter
* 2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
* ½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
* about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
* all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

For the gnocchi sauce:

* 8 tablespoons (227 grams/1/4 pound/4 ounces) butter, sliced
* 2 teaspoons water

Directions:

Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi):
Preparing the ricotta. If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi):
Making the gnocchi dough. To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash thericotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible. Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta. Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture. Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt. Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft andfluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.
Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp. In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep. With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl andform a large mass in the centre of your bowl. Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour. At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump. Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes. If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success. Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them. Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.
Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside. In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other. Once the water is boiling, salt it generously. Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi). When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking. Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now. With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

I did it! I finally bit the bullet, pushed through my fear and made pasta! That’s right, thanks to Daring Bakers, I have finally achieved something that I’ve wanted to do since starting this blog in 2006

With the late showing of this post you would never believe that I actually made this lasagna over a week ago. What can I say? It’s been one of those weeks (for the past few weeks)! But better late than never, right?

For this lasagne I pretty much followed the instructions to a tee, except for the ragu. Since mixing meat with dairy is a huge kosher ‘don’t’ I decided to improvise an eggplant one instead. This change in no way compromised the final result as it was a hands-down, all-around hit! What I loved about this recipe was its ‘less is more’ attitude, something I have really come to embrace in my years as a food blogger. If you think that lasagna needs to ooze cheese, tomato sauce, or any other ingredient, this dish will seriously have you rethinking those priorities!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Foodby Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
Source: The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food
(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)#2
1 recipe of your favourite ragu
1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method
Working Ahead:
The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.

Cooking the Pasta:

Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve.

This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)

Preparation: 45 minutes

Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.

2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)

Working by Hand:

Equipment

Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta.

Mixing the dough:

Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colors. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm).

Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms! I personally do not have such strong arms and have decided that a pasta machine will definitely be money well-spent the next time around My rectangles were complete ‘guesstimates’ as well. I didn’t want to waste any dough!

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

(I dried them on our dining table for 24 hours)

#2 Bechamel

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

When I first learnt about Chef Spotlight Dinners organised by Joelen of Joelen’s Culinary Event I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to showcase another raw dish and to learn about those chefs who specialise in preparing (and popularizing) raw cuisine. Among the key names that I came across (and whose work really resonated with me) were Chad Sarno, Sarma Melngailis, and Roxanne Klein. However, for this challenge I decided to prepare a recipe by the British raw chef, Russell James. Like the other chefs mentioned I like his fun and inventive use of ingredients and colour. I also realize that I am most drawn to those chefs who approach raw cuisine as another healthy alternative to conventional food preparation rather than an all-or-nothing ideological dogma.

Hailed by “The Times” as the UK’s leading raw chef, Russell James is the chef and face behind The Raw Chef. In his Twitter profile he says he’s “making raw food fun & sexy, as it should be!”

This recipe is a raw pasta ‘linguine’ of carrot and parsnips, combined with a red pepper sauce and faux mozzarella sauce. As parsnips are insanely expensive here I substituted zucchini, and for the same reason cashews stood in place of macadamias. This pasta was also the perfect chance to whip out my recently purchased mandolin.

I haven’t worked with one in years and it definitely made making perfect julienned ‘noodles’ hassle-free in a fraction of the time! In the future however I think I will stick to making raw pasta with my vegetable peeler.

It was after 10p.m. when I began making this recipe and close to 11p.m by the time I finished. I hadn’t ate much that day so you can only imagine my immense disappointment when, just a several bites in, a familiar cluster of symptoms began to develop and I had to push my plate away. Subsequent internet research revealed that nutritional yeast (one of the recipe’s ingredients) often contains free glutamic acids, similar to MSG, and was no doubt the reason for the sudden onset of discomfort that I experienced This problem only happens with nutritional yeasts dried at high temperatures. Nutritional yeasts developed at a low temperature, such as Frontier Nutritional Yeast, are supposed to be free of glutamic acids. Good to know for the future!

You’ll be happy to know however that while I tried to contain the dizziness and intense fatigue that was setting in J was scraping the bottom of the bowl and licking his lips! Not only did he love this dish (and took the leftovers home with him), my parents did as well, so I do feel confident in saying that if you don’t have MSG sensitivity you probably will love it as well.

Tomato & Macadamia Mozzarella Linguine
Source: Chef Russell James
Makes 5 starter portions

INGREDIENTS:

Linguine
500 g carrots (about 4 medium carrots, peeled)
500 g parsnip (about 4 medium parsnips, peeled)
1/2 T salt
15 large basil leaves, chiffonade
2 T Italian seasoning
2 c baby plum tomatoes, cut into small sections

Macadamia Mozzarella
1/2 c macadamias
1/2 c cashews
1 T Nama Shoyu or Tamari
2 t lemon juice
1/4 c water
1 T nutritional yeast

Red Pepper Sauce
1/2 c pine nuts
1 red pepper
1/2 T lemon juice
1 T Nama Shoyu or Tamari
1 T agave

METHOD:

1. Turn the carrot and parsnip into thin strands with a mandonline.or vegetable peeler. You can also make spaghetti using a spiral slicer.
2. In a bowl combine the vegetable pasta (linguine)you have produced with the salt and mix well by hand. Leave to stand whilst preparing the mozzarella.
3. Combine all mozzarella ingredients in a Vita Mix or food processor (a Vita Mix isn’t a food processor, it’s more of a blender but no other blender that I know of is suitable to make the cheese so an ‘ordinary’ processor is the next best thing). Blend until a creamy texture is achieved, you may need to add a couple of tablespoons of extra water to get it all to mix. Set aside.
4. Mix all Red Pepper sauce ingredients in a Vita Mix or blender until smooth(blender is ok for this at the mixture is saucier than the cheese). Again, you may need to add water to get a ’sauce’ consistency.
5. Go back to the linguine and you should find that it has released it’s water and is now softer and has a cooked ‘al dente’ feel about it. Wash the salt off and dry with kitchen towel or a salad spinner.
6. Transfer linguine to a clean, dry bowl and add the remaining linguine ingredients. When thoroughly mixed add the macadamia cheese ans mix again by hand to coat all linguine in the cheese mixture.
7. Serve with the Red Pepper sauce. For the dinner party I built the pasta up in a metal ring that I bought from a cookshop and then removed the ring so you get a pasta ‘tower’. I then put the sauce in a sauce drizzle bottle and drizzled over the top. You can also garnish with more chiffonade of basil.SOURCE: TheRawChefBlog.com

I first learnt about this Rachael Ray dish on Oprah and I won’t lie, as a single girl, the name roped me right in A dish that practically guarantees a proposal? Where can I sign up?! Sadly I have not had a chance to try it on any prospective suitors but after making it for my family I got many sated mumbles and murmurs. Puzzled, as the recipe itself is pretty simple and basic I realized that the key to its supposed success has to be that sneaky vodka. I am not convinced that it actually cooks off, if you know what I mean hehehe…

“You Won’t Be Single For Long” Vodka Cream Pasta
Recipe by Rachael Ray
Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, once around the pan in a slow stream
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 cup vodka
1 cup vegetable stock
1 can crushed tomatoes (32 ounces)
Coarse salt and pepper
16 ounces pasta, such as penne rigate
1/2 cup heavy cream
20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat a large skillet over moderate heat.
2. Add oil, butter, garlic and shallots.
3. Gently sauté shallots for 3 to 5 minutes to develop their sweetness.
4. Add vodka to the pan (3 turns around the pan in a steady stream will equal about 1 cup).
5. Reduce vodka by half, this will take 2 or 3 minutes.
6. Add vegetable stock, tomatoes.
7. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente (with a bite to it).
10. While pasta cooks, prepare your salad or other side dishes.
11. Stir cream into sauce.
12. When sauce returns to a bubble, remove it from heat.
13. Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves.
24. Pass pasta with crusty bread.