As annoying as Rachael Ray is, a lot of her recipes are delicious and easy. After watching her make toasted ravioli, I decided to try it on my own, with a few tweaks. Rachael used fresh herbs and made a delicious looking roasted red pepper dipping sauce. I was pretty lazy and used only what I had on hand, so stuck with the seasoned breadcrumbs and jarred marinara sauce. They still turned out delicious.
We just got a new barbecue! Obviously we had to have burgers and steaks for dinner the day it came. I knew we would be eating tons of meat, so I decided to make a light pasta salad to accompany the meal.
I decided to try out a new recipe for Asian-y peanut-y noodles and remembered seeing Ina Garten make some for a barbecue on the beach (don’t ask me how this fits in with a barbecue), so I searched for “sesame noodles” on the Food Network’s website and didn’t see it. I didn’t think I imagined this particular episode of Barefoot Contessa, so I narrowed my results by chef – and these Szechuan noodles were the first, third, and fourth hit (out of four).
Okay, so maybe the words sesame and Szechuan aren’t interchangeable, and maybe you don’t barbecue them, but I made them anyway, and I’m glad I did. The ingredients were overwhelming at first: Fresh ginger? Tahini? Sherry vinegar? But I ended up having many of them in the fridge/pantry already. I bought almost everything else from Whole Foods, and for the rest I left out or substituted with something I had lying around.
All of the spices and ingredients resulted in delicious layers of flavor, and although I made way too much (a whole pound of pasta for two people!?) I was able to enjoy leftovers, since this dish is just as tasty at room temperature, or even out of the fridge, than it is hot.
These baked egg noodles and kelsonnes (kel-SON-ess) are easy and delicious. We keep the ravioli-like envelopes in the freezer and boil them with the noodles for a quick dinner.
The crunchy and almost burnt parts are my favorite.
After watching the Good Eats episode “Use Your Noodle 2” (twice) I decided to try making my own tortellini. I had wanted to try homemade pasta for a while, but I don’t have a pasta maker. Alton said I can make these tortellini without one, so I had to try it. I spent a few hours making this batch, and ended up with a little more than 50 tortellinis (and messed up only four).
