Pasta up

[SEABREEZE]

We cyclists all like to get some good pasta in for a long ride.

If you think you make a mean sauce, I highly recommend checking out Anthonys site. It may rival what mom, and grandma taught you, share with mom.Be sure to read vistitors photo's and sauce talk +recipe tips.

http://www.spaghettisauceandmeatballs.com/visitor_photos_1.html

[StellaBlue]

The second I saw cans of HUNTS tomatoes I knew it was amateur hour . If it ain't San Marzano (I grow my own), it's crap :p ..

PS: I make a mean sauce...

Meat

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/5721/dscn4354r.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/i/dscn4354r.jpg/)

of w/ dungeness crabs

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4660/dscn3948.jpg (http://img340.imageshack.us/i/dscn3948.jpg/)


Tomatoe garden... The tomatoes are key to a good sauce..

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9132/dscn4100w.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/i/dscn4100w.jpg/)

[Ken Robb]

Did you go to school w/Dan Quayle? :)

[fiamme red]

Did you go to school w/Dan Quayle? :)You say to-ma-to, I say to-ma-toe. :)

[SEABREEZE]

STELLA, give the recipe a chance. Use your garden grown San Marzano. They say the best tasting Marzano's are from the Naples Italy area.

Now if you want to kick it up a notch, try growing these.Until you grow a OPALKA,you will never know what a real tomatoe should taste like. Thats a promise.

OPALKA

This is one of the best tasting paste tomato's.I know, primarly because it makes sauce so good and sweet that you would not even add flavoring to it.
Tomatoes are large at least 5 inches long and shaped like a banana pepper with a pronounced tip. .Plants have a wispy type foliar, but are viguorus and very productive.The fruit has very few seeds and is extremely meaty with a sweet rich flavor.Although they make a outstanding sauce, these tomatoes are great to eat fresh.Heirloom variety orginatating from Poland....
Indeterminent 75 days.

Now,,, give Anthonys Grandma recipe a try....
Another suggestion, get those tomato plants out of pots.

[StellaBlue]

get those tomato plants out of pots.

I live 50 yards from the ocean. It's all sandy and bad for growing in the ground...

[StellaBlue]

Did you go to school w/Dan Quayle? :)

Spelling/grammar is overrated...

[Ken Robb]

Spelling/grammar is overrated...

sometimes true--I bought some bars from a Forumite lately then sent him a PM saying "bars are HEAR!" Jeez, my 8th grade English teacher would flog me for that one. :beer:

[SEABREEZE]

Stella, consider creating a raised bed.
Use cinderblocks,then u can gargen sittin on your butt.

Continually keep adding to the bed mulch hay, compost, leaves,wood chips.In no time you will have rich highly mineralized soil.Bring seaweed from the ocean wash down good, use your lawn mower, and chop it up and put in beds, now you added the micro nutrients for your soil.You have a great location for raising veggies.
The sea mist that comes off the ocean is foliar feeding your plants, giving them there micro nutrients as well.

I too lived a stones throw from the ocean, on all sugar sand and thats how I did it.

Now I have a Commercial Organic Farm. With all rasised beds.

Now you understand why I call myself Seabreeze.

[Karin Kirk]

How coincidental... I just got back inside from the greenhouse where I have two types of sauce tomatoes that I started from seed:

-Olpaka
-Super San Marzano

I tried Olpaka last year, but I'm sad to report that the plant did terribly so I eventually pulled it out for fear it would infect the other plants. But with all the rave reviews I decided to try it again. I must admit the plants look a bit pathetic. Seabreeze, can you shed any light on this?

The "super" San Marzano is new for me. I've grown regular San Marzano, but hey, if this variety is super, then it must be better, right?

I am focusing on sauce tomatoes this year. There are only so many cherry tomatoes and sandwich tomatoes you can eat, but I can make an indefinite amount of sauce. I am growing them both inside the greenhouse and outside too, for maximum harvest potential.

In addition to tomato sauce we love the pesto. We grow so much basil that we have an entire winter's supply of pesto in the freezer by September. Come May it is growing again in the greenhouse in what we call the "pesto factory," which is a standard window box overflowing with Genovese basil plants. We've had two pesto dinners so far this spring, which is truly amazing considering how generally cold and snowy it still is here.

With all the growing of our own sauce the natural next step was to make our own pasta so we do that too. Dave even helps with that part!

Here's to awesome pasta! :beer:

[Karin Kirk]

Stella - those are gorgeous tomato plants you got there. Are those photos from last year or are your plants already that big?

[SEABREEZE]

The first time I tasted the OLPALKA ,was in my friends green house. I actually ate 6 of them right off the vine. Its like eatinng one potato chip, you cant, you want more.

Think the sweetest cherrie tomato you had,but sweeter and more flavor.
No adcidity at all.

Cant comment on pathetic, that doesnt help me help you.

With that said, my educated guess, would be mold spores due to your irrigating practice. There are products out there that are copper organic certified . Another option would to be 35% hydrogen peroxide. You must be very careful with it,it can burn the leaves in heart beat. Think a llittle light dose every day,eventualy you will get it unde control.

Mold spores / fungus are quite common in hot houses. Keep your irrigating black pipe under the soil, it feeds the root and not the foliar.

Happy Gardening`

[Karin Kirk]

Those are good suggestions, thanks. I am going to grow it outside this year, so maybe it will like that better. I plan to put it in a spot away from the other tomatoes, in case it seems ill again. I hope I can get it to grow! If not, I have heard Polish Linguisa (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) is also a good one. So I could try that next year.

[johnnymossville]

I could live on the wine and bread alone in that pic. YUM!!!!

That said, fresh tomatoes out of the garden is about as good as it gets.

[StellaBlue]

Stella - those are gorgeous tomato plants you got there. Are those photos from last year or are your plants already that big?

Last year.. I'm just getting started this year

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/3995/img6721c.jpg (http://img571.imageshack.us/i/img6721c.jpg/)

[SEABREEZE]

Karin,dont have any experience with Linguisa, but I would give them a shot, if you dont have luck with Olpalka this season.You may have some diseased seed.

Stella meant to mention last years Marzano's you grew looked healthy and vigurous...You did a great job.

Karin do you have a pasta machine, if so which one,are you happy with it?
Also can you give some detail how you make your dough.

Back to Anthonys Grandma sauce recipe.Is time consuming. Its a 4 -5 hour deal, start early in the morning.Yea there `are sauce recipes out there you can make in no time,that taste pretty darn good, but as Anthony says when you taste it, it was worth every minute.This may not be for eveyone, but if you do have the time, the reward is timeless.

[mike p]

Seabreeze, thanks much for the link. I love it! As an aspiring cook (not good enough to be a chef) I love sites and shows like that. We should start a cooking section of the forum, I bet Ben has some great recipes. Also conservative, liberal, or independent all get along when your talking food! At least I hope.

Mike

[Karin Kirk]

Stella - nice pictures. You look very organized. Do you just grow San Marzano or do you have some other varieties too?

Seabreeze - I was wondering about the seed too. We'll see what happens this year. So far the leaves just look listless and droopy. I keep a clean house with sterilized pots, fresh soil, etc so I am pretty sure it's the plant and not me.

We use the Kitchen Aid pasta roller attachments. They are beautiful, sturdy stainless steel and the whole process is a pleasure. My dough recipe is 100g white flour per egg, plus a pinch of salt and a little olive oil to soften things up if needed. After mixing, you let the dough sit for 20 minutes and it gets a lot more pliable. Then you run it through the rollers to make sheets. Once you have all the sheets made, you switch attachments and cut the sheets into fettuccine or spaghetti. Or you can use the sheets as is for lasagna or make them into ravioli.

Below is a photo of pasta in progress. Dave gave me the very cool rack to hold the pasta. Without it things get messy real quick.

Below that is the pesto factory (2nd from right) along with various salad greens. Dave designed this clever system. It sure is great having such a handy guy around the house. :)

I enjoy the cooking threads as there are quite a few gourmets here and I have learned plenty of new tips.

[StellaBlue]

Stella - nice pictures. You look very organized. Do you just grow San Marzano or do you have some other varieties too?

Thanks. I grow San Marzano, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Belgium Giant, Sunray, Yellow Pear (the small ones) and Brandywine.. I have a small section for cuc's, eggplant, & herbs..

I want your green house..

[SEABREEZE]

Seabreeze, thanks much for the link. I love it! As an aspiring cook (not good enough to be a chef) I love sites and shows like that. We should start a cooking section of the forum, I bet Ben has some great recipes. Also conservative, liberal, or independent all get along when your talking food! At least I hope.

Mike

Yes Mike well said, Aspiring cooks in deed. Anthony captures the spirt of the old world. Invite freinds and family over make it a fun ,learning experience, with good conversation,laughther and wine drinking with Italian music going on in the backround. Music and food brings all together, regardlees of politics or religion.

In todays modern America these traditions have been lost,simply not enough time. Todays generation dont know what they are missing.

Thats how it was in my Grandmothers ,I was only a kid, but still some of the best memories.

[r_mutt]

The second I saw cans of HUNTS tomatoes I knew it was amateur hour . If it ain't San Marzano (I grow my own), it's crap :p ..

PS: I make a mean sauce...



http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4660/dscn3948.jpg (http://img340.imageshack.us/i/dscn3948.jpg/)




speaking of amateur hour... rather than pouring sauce over the plain pasta on a plate and serving it, isn't the proper way to finish pasta is to put the pasta in a saucepan with the sauce and toss it for 2 minutes? the sauce sticks to the pasta this way. that's what frankie alfieri's mother taught me. just sayin'...


:p

[mike p]

Boy you hit the nail on the head! What a change in a few generations! In some ways we've advanced so much, in other ways we've gone backward bigtime.

Mike


"Aspiring cooks in deed. Anthony captures the spirt of the old world. Invite freinds and family over make it a fun ,learning experience, with good conversation,laughther and wine drinking with Italian music going on in the backround. Music and food brings all together, regardlees of politics or religion.

In todays modern America these traditions have been lost,simply not enough time. Todays generation dont know what they are missing.

Thats how it was in my Grandmothers ,I was only a kid, but still some of the best memories."

[SEABREEZE]

Here is a FETTACHINI ALFRADO sauce, I think you all might find enjoyable.

In a large frying pan, brown up some bacon or Italian bacon (pancetta)

Then add half stick of butter and diced garlic let this all infuse in the bacon pan for a while.

In a bowel while infusing, add cream and aittle milk if you want the cream cut a bit, we like it full cream 1 egg yolk.Chooped fresh parsley. 1/2 cup of ground regiano parmagano ( locatelli ) cheese.( Mix up good in bowel.Now pour in bacon pan and simmer for 35 minutes. Add crushed pepper to taste, No need for salt beacause of the cheese and bacon.Add the al dente fettichini into pan and toss.Plate and Grate more regiano parmagano

To kick it up a notch you can pre cook some shrimp, crab meat etc.Last couple minutes of simering add the precooked fish to pan.

Fettchini noodles of choice.

What makes this Alfrado sauce so rich tasting is the cheese and bacon.

A nice fresh garden salad with balsamic vinegar.

Bon Appetit

[StellaBlue]

speaking of amateur hour... rather than pouring sauce over the plain pasta on a plate and serving it, isn't the proper way to finish pasta is to put the pasta in a saucepan with the sauce and toss it for 2 minutes? the sauce sticks to the pasta this way. that's what frankie alfieri's mother taught me. just sayin'...


:p

I don't finish cooking pasta in the sauce. I put a ladle of the sauce onto the strained pasta to coat it. Then put as much or little sauce as the person wants on theirs.. Lots of picky kids in the house..

[SEABREEZE]

A little Italian humor.

How can you tell a non Italian is eating Pasta.

He just uses a fork, an Italian uses a large spoon , brings the pasta to the spoon with the fork then wraps.

[malcolm]

I'll throw this one in just to be different. It's one of my favorite pasta dishes and while it sounds odd it is very good.

Pasta Melone
1 cantaloupe ~1in diced
4 tbs butter
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs tomato paste
1 cup heavy cream (cashew cream will also work)
1 cup parmigiano/regiano cheese shredded

Melt the butter in a skillet until foam subsides then add cantaloupe and cook until it just starts to break down, add salt and pepper, lemon juice, tomato paste, then cream. Continue to cook until the cantaloupe is broken down or just holding together in little lumps. Combine with your pasta of choice and combine add the cheese while still hot and combine again. Tasty

[SEABREEZE]

Video from Dinners, Drive In, and Dives,

Rocco's Cafe - San Francisco's

Toward very end of video, you will see them preparing luginni and clams. Everyone raved about it.I have made this several times, outstanding, easy to follow and make from just watching the video..

Bon Appetit


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpL70NPagJA

[Polyglot]

A little Italian humor.

How can you tell a non Italian is eating Pasta.

He just uses a fork, an Italian uses a large spoon , brings the pasta to the spoon with the fork then wraps.

Absolute total nonsense! You would be laughed out of restaurants in 2/3 of Italy if you were to do that. No Italian "di buona famiglia" anywhere in Italy would ever eat like that.

[Polyglot]

Back to Anthonys Grandma sauce recipe.Is time consuming. Its a 4 -5 hour deal, start early in the morning.Yea there `are sauce recipes out there you can make in no time,that taste pretty darn good, but as Anthony says when you taste it, it was worth every minute.This may not be for eveyone, but if you do have the time, the reward is timeless.

My 90-year old Venetian mother-in-law joined us when we moved over from Italy in 2001 and has lived with us ever since. She makes Ragu sauce from scratch about once a month. She will normally spend between 4-6 hours at the stove making it, then freezes it in small packages.

My two daughters didn't realize how good they have it until they started getting invited to their friends houses and had their friends over for dinner. All their friends would go home to their mothers saying they magically loved pasta and my daughters would come without having eaten anything...

[Birddog]

Absolute total nonsense! You would be laughed out of restaurants in 2/3 of Italy if you were to do that. No Italian "di buona famiglia" anywhere in Italy would ever eat like that.
Agreed. You can spot the non Italian because they are the ones using a spoon, or horror of horrors, cutting the pasta up into small pieces. I've heard the opposite and been asked by people why I don't use a spoon like Italians. My comment is always that in a year in Italy, I never once saw an Italian use a spoon.
http://www.ehow.com/how_13681_eat-spaghetti.html

Birddog

[djg]

I keep coming back to my basic sauce, which my kids love and call "daddy sauce," and is just my own variation on one of Marcella Hazan's old basics: I use less salt and I add sweet red pepper and some garlic to the vegetable sautee.

Olive oil -- generous -- heat it.
Onion, carrots, celery, and a pepper all hacked up in the food processor.
Cook the vegetables in the olive oil for a couple of minutes.
Add some garlic (minced or micro-planed) at the end.
Then the tomatoes -- good quality canned ones are just fine (vastly preferable to mediocre fresh ones), but really good fresh ones are lovely if you have them and take the trouble to peel and seed them.
A little white wine -- optional.
Cook for twenty minutes, salt to taste, and it's great.
For a totally different taste, add fresh basil at the very end (everybody has basil out back, yes?).
Or a shot of half & half.

[gemship]

I keep coming back to my basic sauce, which my kids love and call "daddy sauce," and is just my own variation on one of Marcella Hazan's old basics: I use less salt and I add sweet red pepper and some garlic to the vegetable sautee.

Olive oil -- generous -- heat it.
Onion, carrots, celery, and a pepper all hacked up in the food processor.
Cook the vegetables in the olive oil for a couple of minutes.
Add some garlic (minced or micro-planed) at the end.
Then the tomatoes -- good quality canned ones are just fine (vastly preferable to mediocre fresh ones), but really good fresh ones are lovely if you have them and take the trouble to peel and seed them.
A little white wine -- optional.
Cook for twenty minutes, salt to taste, and it's great.
For a totally different taste, add fresh basil at the very end (everybody has basil out back, yes?).
Or a shot of half & half.


I've been following this thread for a while now and I have to say this sort of resembles my sauce. I mean I always just get generous with the olive oil and pepper and freshly minced garlic. I've added stewed peeled tomatoes or pureed tomatoes or even a Hunt's tomato sauce. Along with onions, carrots and even kale or broccoli. Very easy and healthy

[djg]

I've been following this thread for a while now and I have to say this sort of resembles my sauce. I mean I always just get generous with the olive oil and pepper and freshly minced garlic. I've added stewed peeled tomatoes or pureed tomatoes or even a Hunt's tomato sauce. Along with onions, carrots and even kale or broccoli. Very easy and healthy

The kale is really nice on the side -- ever done it oven roasted with olive oil so that it's crispy?

[SEABREEZE]

My 90-year old Venetian mother-in-law joined us when we moved over from Italy in 2001 and has lived with us ever since. She makes Ragu sauce from scratch about once a month. She will normally spend between 4-6 hours at the stove making it, then freezes it in small packages.

My two daughters didn't realize how good they have it until they started getting invited to their friends houses and had their friends over for dinner. All their friends would go home to their mothers saying they magically loved pasta and my daughters would come without having eaten anything...

Well Poly, I think Iam inviting myself over to try your inlaws sauce.It sound wonderful.Sounds like you were born and raised in Italy.I certainly respect your thoughts on the fork and spoon.My dad also use to tell me,in Italy the Italians do not use a lot of sauce on there pasta, as we do here in America.They just like to coat the pasta with it. Fact or fiction?

The fork and spoon was passed down from my greatgrandparents who left Italy back in the late 1800's, so why did they bring that custom with them, if as you say Italians in Italy presently only use forks.

There was another poster that agreed with me about using the fork and spoon.Now I am alittle confused.

[Birddog]

The fork and spoon was passed down from my greatgrandparents who left Italy back in the late 1800's, so why did they bring that custom with them, if as you say Italians in Italy presently only use forks.

My guess is that your grandparents demonstrated the spoon technique to you as kids to make it easier. The technique is similar to the proper style of using the side of the shallow bowl. I'm guilty of using a plate to serve spaghetti and it is a little more difficult, the Italians would not do that.

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/how_to_eat_spaghetti.html

OK, fini, I'm gonna release a balloon now.
Birddog

[gemship]

The kale is really nice on the side -- ever done it oven roasted with olive oil so that it's crispy?


oh no, I never tried it that way but it sounds really good. How hot do you heat the oven and for how long?

I am always amazed at how quick a big bunch of it reduces in a stir fry

[SEABREEZE]

My guess is that your grandparents demonstrated the spoon technique to you as kids to make it easier. The technique is similar to the proper style of using the side of the shallow bowl. I'm guilty of using a plate to serve spaghetti and it is a little more difficult, the Italians would not do that.

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/how_to_eat_spaghetti.html

OK, fini, I'm gonna release a balloon now.
Birddog

Well I think I have the solution, I going out and buying chop sticks.

After all we get the noodle from Orientals

[r_mutt]

I don't finish cooking pasta in the sauce. I put a ladle of the sauce onto the strained pasta to coat it. Then put as much or little sauce as the person wants on theirs.. Lots of picky kids in the house..


no offense, but that's a sin! it's just not the same. might as well use hunts ;) i'm surprised that someone who goes to these extremes to get a perfect plate of pasta doesn't finish it properly. frankie's grandma is rolling in her grave ;)


enjoy.


:beer:

[mike p]

I may be missing it but to me its not about how sauce is applied to pasta or how pasta makes it's way from plate to mouth, It's about family and friends enjoying each others company. Pasta just sets it all in motion!

Mike

[djg]

oh no, I never tried it that way but it sounds really good. How hot do you heat the oven and for how long?

I am always amazed at how quick a big bunch of it reduces in a stir fry

Hot -- 500 - 550, and toss the chopped kale every five minutes or so. It gets nice and crispy.

[robin3mj]

The key, key, key thing is to take the pasta out of the water slightly al dente, and then finish it in the sauce.

[gemship]

Hot -- 500 - 550, and toss the chopped kale every five minutes or so. It gets nice and crispy.


Very cool, I want to give this a shot. Dude Kale is like my favorite green, it's just so cheap. I can get a bunch of it for less than a buck/buck fifty and that bunch will give me enough greens for three days having seconds and third helpings at every meal. On that note Kale is a extreme value.

[gemship]

The key, key, key thing is to take the pasta out of the water slightly al dente, and then finish it in the sauce.


This makes a lot of sense. Ironically I'll make a whole box of pasta, I prefer whole grain by the way and it will last me four days. Once it's steamed I add about a quarter cup of olive oil, pepper and freshly minced garlic, could use salt to although I prefer not to. Mix it all up, eat what I can that night and then I just store in a bowl in the fridge with a covering. I think it taste better in my stir fries the day after and so forth. Go figure

[SEABREEZE]

Mike this is for buddy, this is the spirt that Anthony was talking about.

He's a character



http://theitaliansinginggourmet.com/

[Mr. Squirrel]

pasta sauce made with nuts! different nuts also combine well with flavored pastas for unique flavor combinations: try lemon pasta with almonds, carrot pasta with cashews, or spinach pasta with brazil nuts.

ingredients

* 12 oz. pasta
* 2 cups nut meats, such as almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, filberts, pecans or walnuts
* 5 cloves garlic
* 1/4 cup butter
* ¼ cup olive oil
* ½ cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, freshly grated
* Additional coarsely chopped nuts, grated cheese and chopped fresh parsley for garnish, if desired

preparation
cook pasta as directed, until al dente. while pasta is cooking, use a food processor or blender to combine the nut meats and enough hot water from the cooking pasta to make a stiff paste. add the garlic, butter, olive oil and cheese. blend, adding additional hot water as needed to make a smooth, thick sauce.

drain pasta. pour sauce over pasta and toss until well-coated. place on individual serving plates, garnish and serve immediately.

makes 4 to 6 servings.


mr. squirrel

[mike p]

Thats what I'm talking about!

Mike

Mike this is for buddy, this is the spirt that Anthony was talking about.

He's a character



http://theitaliansinginggourmet.com/

[Ozz]

....Bring seaweed from the ocean wash down good, use your lawn mower, and chop it up and put in beds, now you added the micro nutrients for your soil.You have a great location for raising veggies.
The sea mist that comes off the ocean is foliar feeding your plants, giving them there micro nutrients as well.

I too lived a stones throw from the ocean, on all sugar sand and thats how I did it.

Now I have a Commercial Organic Farm. With all rasised beds.

Now you understand why I call myself Seabreeze.
Thread drift....you ever see the movie "The Field"?

Interesting movie.... :beer: