Luci's Tasty Adventures

This is a family recipe that I have altered a tiny tinny bit.  Basically Mom adds more mustard to hers then I do.  We have had this salad at countless family gatherings, and I know it is still a top choice for both of my Brothers.  It is really easy to make and I whipped some up this morning for small dinner party. 

Aaron and I are going over to my younger brother Kurtis's house to have dinner with his family.  We are most looking forward to this dinner and hoping that little Cameron will love the salad and he will carry the tradition on for another generation. 

I understand that most people already have a family salad whether it be potato, pasta, or macaroni.  This is one of those recipes that is a crowd pleaser.  You can make large quantity's of this for large crowds, and whenever I make it I always get requests for the recipe.  Looking for a simple side that is a crowd pleaser?  This is your dish.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1lb macaroni pasta
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 4-6 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 ounces black olives, sliced
• 3 hard boiled eggs
• Best Foods Mayonnaise to taste (1/4-1/2 cup, spoon in slowly)
• 2-3 Tbs Yellow Mustard
• Kosher salt
• Freshly grated Black Pepper
• Paprika

Method:

Boil water and cook macaroni per manufactures directions.

When macaroni is done drain in sink and rinse with cold water from the tap.

Put Macaroni in a large mixing bowl add a spoon of mayo and throughly coat the Macaroni to prevent it from sticking together.











Add celery, onions and olives. 













 Slowly add mayonnaise and a little mustard.  Mix well.  If it seems dry add more mayo (trick is not to add too much Mayo, so add it slow).

Chop two of the hard boiled eggs up and mix into Macaroni.

Generously add salt and pepper to taste.

Let Salad sit in the fridge for a few hours up to overnight, and then check it.  If it seems to dry add a spoon of mayo, test for salt and pepper.

When you are ready to serve slice the last egg and arrange on top of salad.  Add paprika, serve.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the photo.  Gosh she is pretty.  Some of my dishes photo really well; and then there is this pasta.  This dish steals all the thunder of any of my other posts (well maybe bacon looks better, but you get the point).  Rarely do I get a photo that demonstrates how truly wonderful my food taste, well that up in till now.  This is one of those moments, let’s just stop and take in the beauty of this pasta.  The colors and textures are so vivid; I bet you could almost smell it. . .  Can’t you?

This recipe does not need to be made with both scallops and shrimp, it does not need to be made with jumbo sized shrimp and large scallops.  The cooking time just needs to be adjusted depending on the size of the seafood you choose.  So if all you have is shrimp, use shrimp.  Use what you have.

A few key things to keep in mind, if you choose to use scallops, make sure they are dried completely before putting them in the pan.  The same goes for the shrimp, but I am more diligent about it when it comes to scallops.  Wet scallops will equal no crust.  Every loves crust right?  Something else to keep in mind is you really need to have everything prepped before you start cooking.  You totally need to get your Mes en plas on.  This dish cooks fast, so basically it takes 8 minutes for the pasta too cook.  This dish takes about 10 minute’s grand total to make.  So make sure the pasta water is boiling before you start the seafood.

Ingredients:

• 2 small yellow onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 Roma tomatoes, seeded, and diced
• 4 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade at the last minute right before serving
• ¼ lemon, juiced
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 11 ounces spaghetti noodles
• ½ lb large shrimp, cleaned, tail on
• 2-3 scallops per person
• kosher salt
• freshly grated black pepper
• olive oil

Please note photo was taken after I seared the scallops and shrimp.

Method:

Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta.  Wait for the water to boil, heat a large sauce pan over medium high heat.  You need to make sure that sauce pan is hot before you start searing the scallops.  

Add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil in the sauce pan.  Sprinkle the tops of the dried scallops with kosher salt and pepper.  Place the scallops’ salt and pepper side down in the sauce pan.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over the other side of the scallops.  The trick to scallops is not to overcook them.  I did mine just under 2 minutes per side.   So after about a minute and a half use a nice spatula and flip the scallops.  Try not to lose the pretty crust that has built up on the scallop.  That’s the tasty part!  Right after you flip the scallops add the spaghetti to the boiling water and set your timer.  After the scallops are done remove them from the sauce pan, loosely tent them.

Keep the sauce pan on, add more olive oil if it is needed and do the same process with the shrimp.  They need to be dried, salt and peppered and cooked for about a minute a side.  After they are done place them on a plate and tent.

Working quickly add a splash of olive oil to the pan and sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes.   Sprinkle them with a little kosher salt to help them cook down faster.  Once there is less than 4 minutes left on the spaghetti add the diced tomatoes to the pan.  Add the wine and reduce down by half.  At this point the spaghetti should be done, drain it and toss it in the tomato sauce.  Squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the pasta, and add two basil leaves that have been cut chiffonade style.

Plate the pasta and then add the scallops and shrimp on top and garnish with the fresh basil.  Sit back and enjoy with some wine. . . trust me you will love this recipe. 

Serves 4

This recipe comes from my Silver Spoon Pasta Cookbook.  The filling for this ravioli is a perfect way to use up some of that left over Easter Ham.  If you don't want to make your own ravioli pasta dough, you can always buy wanton or egg roll wrappers in your local grocery store.  They stock these wrappers in the fresh and frozen sections.

This sauce I chose is a very delicate tomato sauce.  It's beyond simple to make and can be used on a variety of pasta dishes.  Trust me try it once you will be hooked.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pasta:

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• ½ tsp kosher salt

Filling:

• ½ cup Ricotta cheese
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• ½ cup cooked ham, finely chopped
• 3 ½ ounce dried Mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Tomato Sauce:

• 1 28 ounce can of peeled tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered

Assembly:

• 1 egg, beaten

Method:

To make the pasta dough, put flour in a large mixing bowl along with the salt.  Create a well in the middle of the flour and put the three eggs in the well.  Slowly mix the flour with the eggs.  Once the dough comes together divide it into three equal size balls and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

For the sauce, plop tomatoes, butter, and onion in a sauce pan and simmer for about an hour.  Take out the onion and discard.  For a chunky style sauce smash the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, for a less chunky sauce remove them or puree the sauce in a food processes.  Set aside and keep warm.














Bring a large pot of water to a boil. 

Mix together the Ricotta cheese and egg in a medium size bowl.  Add the parsley, ham, Mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese.














Roll out the pasta dough into very thin sheets, I used a pasta machine.  Cut rectangles out of the dough approximately 2.5 inches by 4.5 inches.  (Mine are a little bigger, I use the width of the pasta machine sheets and them cut them into strips)












Place about 1 Tbsp of the filling onto the rectangle.

















Brush a the pasta with egg wash and the press together and seal ravioli.











After you seal the ravioli place it onto a floured cookie sheet.










Add a few Tbsp of kosher salt to the boiling water. Gently drop the raviolis into the boiling water, bring the water back up to a nice simmer and cook them for 3-5 minutes.  Toss them into the tomato sauce and serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

This recipe was inspired from The Silver Spoon: Pasta cookbook.  You might read this recipe and think butter in red sauce?? Trust me its my new favorite trick.  It adds a velvet quality to the sauce that just rolls across your tongue.  Do yourself a favor, taste this tomato sauce before you blend it up, before you put in the mascarpone cheese.. you will be beyond shocked the flavor and the velvet quality this simple sauce has.  If you don't have mascarpone cheese, just blend the sauce up and serve it with the pasta and maybe some freshly broiled shrimp or chicken.  This is a great week night meal that is easy on your pantry and wallet.  

Ingredients:

• 28 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes, no salt
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• ½ cup mascarpone cheese
• 1 lb bow tie pasta
• kosher salt
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method:
Plop tomatoes (with the sauce in can), butter, oil, onion and a pinch of salt in a pan and cook over low to medium heat stirring occasionally for about a half hour.  You want the sauce to start to glug and pop.











Boil a large pot of water for cooking the pasta.

Remove from heat and transfer sauce to a blender or a food processor.  I used a blender because my food processor is so small and I did not want to deal with it.  Puree the mixture; return it to the pan over very low heat, and add the marscarpone cheese.













Mix in the cheese till the sauce is well blended.  Salt the pasta cooking water, and add pasta.  Cook pasta till it is al dente, drain pasta and toss it into the sauce pot.  Mix the pasta with the mascarpone pasta sauce and serve, garnish with Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!

This pasta was inspired from my new book, The Silver Spoon: Pasta.  I'm still enjoying making pasta from scratch and this was my first attempted at making fettuccine.  The hardest part of making your own noodles is trying to find places to hang them while you process all the dough.  Lots of stores sell fancy pasta hanging gadgets.  They look great, but my kitchen is just to small, and I have to be very careful with my limited storage space.  So I have to improvise.  Last night I hung clean towels over my kitchen cupboards.  And hung the strands of fettuccine neatly across them.  I have found that if I just flour the cut pasta and put it in a bunch it will take on that shape, and not look as pretty after you boil it.  So I prefer to hang it till I am ready to boil it.  I am very tempted to us a broom stick next time, prop from on corner of my kitchen to the other, and just hang the pasta that way.  It might cause a small problem though if I need to get into the refrigerator.

Any way this pasta sauce is very easy to make and you don't need to make your own pasta; however, I would recommend you buy fresh fettuccine from your local market.  Trader Joe's sells a very nice product.  This sauce is very versatile in my opinion.  You could cut the fat out by adding less cream and using chicken stock.  You could very easily substitute different vegetables in your puree and serve it with chicken, or shrimp over pasta.  I am very tempted to use this sauce in vegetable style lasagna, and as a topper to some home made raviolis.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 12 ounces fresh fettuccine pasta
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 2 tsp fresh basil, chiffonade, plus extra for garnish
• kosher salt and pepper to taste
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Method:

Boil a large pot of water for cooking the pasta.

Heat a large sauce pan over low heat; add olive oil, garlic, and shallot.  Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.  Add chopped bell peppers, cook over low heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  After vegetables are tender stir in the marjoram; turn heat off, and let them cool for about 4 minutes.  After they are cooled off transfer them into a food processor, and process to a puree.  I had to work in batches, mini food processor!! 












Return puree to sauce pan, over low heat add cream.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Keep covered and on low heat.
  












Add 1 tsp of kosher salt to the boiling water, cook fettuccine till it is al dente, 4-5 minutes.  Drain pasta, pour it into the sauce pot.














Mix well, add fresh basil and serve.  Garnish each plate with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and basil.  Serves 4.

 











Yes I know, another pasta entry. I promise this will be the last one for a while. I really wanted to try making lasagna with fresh pasta, and it was so worth it. Actually it was not that much work and the more I use my pasta attachments the easier the whole process seems to get. None the less this lasagna is packed full of flavor and will feed us for the next month. After I made this dish I was sad that we had no one to share it with. This is a dish made of love and you can taste it in every bite.

This recipe can be made in stages and prepped in advance. Perfect for entertaining! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 16 ounce cans tomato sauce
• 2  6 ounce cans tomato paste
• 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 pound mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup parmigiana cheese, grated
• 2 ½ cups of ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley
• 1-1/4 pound lasagna sheets
  
• kosher salt
• freshly grated black pepper
• olive oil
• large lasagna baking dish 12 by 3 inches
  

Method:

Heat a large sauce pan over low to medium heat; season beef and sausage with salt and pepper, and slowly cook for about 15-20 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon brake up large pieces of beef and sausage while it is cooking.  Once the meat is no longer pink remove meat from skillet; drain, and discard all the fat sauce pan.  Add one tablespoon of olive oil, onion and carrot to the same sauce pan and saute over low to medium heat till tender.  Once tender add the garlic; saute for one minute and then return ground meat to sauce pan.

Mix in both cans of tomato sauce and tomato paste, water, oregano, marjoram, basil and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring sauce to a simmer over medium heat; after you reach a nice bubbly simmer turn the heat all the way down and cover sauce.  Cook sauce for at least one hour; sauce can be made a day in advanced and in my opinion tastes better when I make it in advance.

In a medium size bowl mix together ¼ cup parmigiana cheese, 2 ½ cups ricotta cheese, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, and salt and pepper to test.  Set aside for assembly.

Assembly:

Coat the bottom of your lasagna pan with olive oil; a few tablespoons will do.  Bring a large pot of water to boil; salt water and put four lasagna sheets into the boiling water.  Boil fresh past sheets for 2 minutes (boil for 5 minutes if you are using dry store purchased sheets); remove sheets, place them in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Dry them off and set them in your lasagna dish.  I made my lasagna sheets from scratch and I had to build my lasagna layer at a time.  If you are using dried lasagna sheets you can cook them all at once and place them on a cookie sheet, coat each sheet with olive oil to prevent sticking.












After setting up your first set up lasagna sheets, take 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and spreed it evenly over the sheets of lasagna.  Take about 2 cups of the meat sauce and spread it evenly over the ricotta mixture.  Sprinkle ¼ of the graded mozzarella cheese over the sauce, along with 1 tablespoon parmigiana.























Boil 4 more lasagna sheets for two minutes; remove them from the water, and place them on top to form your next layer.














Build this layer the same as the last, ricotta, sauce, mozzarella.  Boil four more lasagna sheets for two minutes and build another layer using the last of the ricotta mixture, sauce and mozzarella.   Boil the last 4 lasagna sheets for two minutes and place in your lasagna pan to form the final layer.  Distribute the last of the sauce over the top of the lasagna sheets; and sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese and parmigiana.













Cover lasagna with foil and bake for an hour in a 350 degree oven.  Let lasagna sit for 15 minutes before slicing.  This dish will feed a small army of hobbits, enjoy!

The next is for the brave pasta makers, just kidding its really not that hard.  The machine does all the work.

Lasagna Sheets:

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 1-2 tbsp water
• 3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp kosher salt

Method:

Mix flour eggs, water, and salt in mixing bowl.  Use kitchen aid mixer to need the dough, or do by hand.  Make four disks out of dough and wrap them in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.  Work with one disk at a time.  Make sure your lasagna pan is ready along with your sauce and cheese filling.  Each disk will make 4 perfect size lasagna sheets; you will have odd and end pieces that I did not use, or even bother to boil.

Take your 4 inch disk and feed it threw the pasta sheet attachment on setting 1; mixer speed 2.  Fold dough in half and feed through again, do this three times.  Turn attachment to setting #2 and feed sheet threw.  Turn attachment to setting # 3 and feed sheet threw.  Does this for each setting till you reach setting number 5, I took one of my sheets to setting #6 but it seemed to thin for lasagna.

Take large rectangle and cut into lasagna style sheets.  I measured my lasagna dish and figured that the bottom strips would need to be around 10 inches long and the top strips would need to be around 12.












If you are worried make them a little long and re size them after you boil them.  My kitchen is very small and as I stated before I worked in very small batches, four sheets at a time.  Good luck! 

I am pretty inspired right now to make fresh pasta dishes.  You can buy the noodles from your local market if you do not have the time, or passion for making fresh pasta.  The marinara sauce is perfect in my opinion; it has a nice balanced flavor from the shallots and carrots.  The Prosciutto is crisp and light and goes so well with the melting goat cheese and pasta.  If you have never tried goat cheese, I would recommend getting some soft goat cheese and spreading it on your morning bagel.  The flavor is very unique and the cheese can be used in sweet or savory dishes.

Marinara Sauce

• 1 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 4 ounce can of tomato paste
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• ½ carrot, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat, add shallots.  Saute shallots and carrot till they are tender; about 7 minutes.  Add garlic to sauce pan, saute for another minute.  Add tomato sauce, paste, salt, oregano and water.  Bring pot till a boil; then turn your temperature down to low, cover and simmer for about an hour.

Crispy Prosciutto

• 5 slices of Prosciutto

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Spread the prosciutto out evenly over baking sheet.











Bake prosciutto for 7 minutes; take the prosciutto out of the oven and flip it over, and bake for another 7 minutes.  Watch this closely as it can burn.  Take prosciutto off baking dish and set on paper towels to drain. (this can be done in advaced and set aside till you are ready to plate)













Pasta: (now you can skip this part and just purchase past from the store, 1 lb will do).

• 4 large eggs
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt

Method:

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl; mix with a heavy spoon till combined.  Attach bowl to mixer; attach dough hook and kneed on setting #2 for 2 minutes.  If mixture seems dry and another table spoon of water.  Take dough out of mixing bowl, and kneed by hand for 2 minutes.  Take dough and separate it into four disks.  Wrap disks in plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.  I have found that working this dough on a floured server with wet hands helps the dough kneed and combine nicely.











Work with one disk at a time.  Roll disk out to a 4 by 4 in disk; about ¼ inch thick.   Attach the pasta sheet attachment to mixer; put it on setting # 1.  Turn your mixer on to speed #2, and feed disk threw.  Take pasta sheet and fold it in half feed it through again, do this a total of 3 times.  Change the setting on your pasta machine to 2; turn your mixer on to speed #2, feed pasta threw.  Change the setting on your pasta machine to 3; turn your mixer on to speed #2, feed pasta threw. Continue this same process till you reach setting number 6 on your attachment. 

Remove the pasta roller attachment from mixer, and attach the spaghetti making attachment.  Cut your pasta sheets to the 5 inches by 12 inches; basically cut your large rectangle into 3 smaller rectangles.  You do not want your spaghetti noodles to be 24 inches long.

Run each sheet through the spagaetti attachement, set noodles on a plate.  Switch out attachement and repeat steps for the last 3 disks of pasta dough.  Cook pasta right away or hang to dry.































Boil a large pot of water, salt and add about a tbsp of olive oil.  Cook pasta for about 4-5 minutes till al dente.  Drain pasta and combine in sauce pan with marinara sauce.

Assembly:

• 2 tbsp chopped green onion
• 1/3 cup soft goat cheese
• 5 slices of crispy prosciutto

Plate:

Garnish with chopped green onions, dots of goat cheese, and one piece of crumbled crispy prosciutto.  Serves 4-5 people.

I am the happy and lucky(bell) owner of a Kitchen Aid Mixer.  This Christmas I received the pasta making attachment kit.  It came with three attachments,  fettuccine roller,  pasta roller, spaghetti roller.  I don't think you need a fancy pasta roller to make fabulous pasta, but it can't hurt.

For new years we had king crab legs, and I decided the best place to use the left overs would be in a ravioli.  I wanted to keep this simple because this was my first fresh pasta experience, and I wanted my pasta to sparkle like Edward.  So it's a simple ravioli served with a very simple lemon olive sauce.  Enjoy!

Pasta Dough Ingredients:
 

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten + 1 egg reserve for egg wash
• 1 ½ tsp kosher salt

Method:

Add flour, eggs, and salt to mixing bowl.  Combine by hand with a spoon, then kneed dough using your dough hook on setting number two for two minutes.  Dough should not stick to hands when you pinch it together; if dough seems too dry add a tbsp of water and kneed for another minute.













Remove dough from mixer and kneed by hand on floured board; kneed for about two minutes.  Section dough into four pieces, and store in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes; dough can be stored over night.  Caution do not over work your dough or it will dry out.

While the dough is in the refrigerator prepare your ravioli filling and sauce.

Crab Filling Ingredients:

• 1 Cup fresh crab
• 1 shallot, finally chopped
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tbsp Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

Method:

Mix crab, shallot, ricotta cheese, parsley, and basil- set aside in refigerator till you are ready to fill ravioli, this can be made in advance (:

Sauce

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• zest of one lemon

Method:

Grated lemon zest in a non reactive bowl, and olive oil.  Let sit till you are ready to serve.  I used a very special fruity extra virgin olive oil for this recipe.  It came from Napa, Ca I believe. 

Making Ravioli

Boil large pot of water.

Create pasta sheets by using your manufactures instructions or simply rolling them out by hand.  Use one disk at a time. 

Take one disk out of refrigerator and roll it into a 4 inch disk, about ¼ inch think.
















Turn mixer to setting #2 and feed the disk through the roller (roller on setting #1).  Take the dough and fold it in half and feed it through again; repeat three times.  Turn mixer off and change your pasta attachment to setting #2; feed through roller.  Turn mixer off and turn your attachment to setting #3; feed through roller.  Continue doing this one setting up each time till you reach setting #6.


 














Take your large rectangle of dough and cut in into strips 2.5 in by 5 in .











Take one hefty tsp of filling in the middle of each square; brush with egg wash and crimp together with another square of pasta.













Transfer sealed ravioli to floured baking sheet.










Season pot of boiling water with salt and 1 tbsp olive oil.  Drop ravioli in water and cook for about 5-7 minutes till al dente.  Serve ravioli with a drizzle of the infused olive oil sauce and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

The past few days have been so cold in the Bay Area.  Time for some more soup!  This recipe is pretty simple, and you can you chicken legs or thighs if you prefer them over breasts.  I used breasts cause they are a staple item in my freezer.  Enjoy!

• 
  
• 3 boneless skinless cooked chicken breast, cubed
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 oz egg noodles
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• salt and fresh grated pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Method

Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat, add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.  Saute till tender about 7 minutes. 

Add stock and bay leaf to pot and bring to a small boil.  Add egg noodles and cook for about 8 minutes.  Fold in chicken, remove bay leaf, add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve each bowl with fresh chopped parsley.

Serves 5