Fresh Pasta and Vegetarian-Friendly Carbonara

Though this winter has been particularly brutal, leaving me to almost exclusively hibernate, I've awoken from my slumber to cook because obviously I require delicious noms in my life. After a trip to Eataly during its opening week (yikes!), I decided it was time to finally make my own pasta from scratch. When I spotted powder-fine "00" flour lining the shelves I excitedly picked some up.


I found a lot of varied recipes online. It seems most people's ratios differ, which lead me to believe there's basically no wrong way to make pasta (if there are any Italians or pasta aficionados reading, please don't kill me for saying that!). I finally settled on fettuccine's ratio of one egg for every 100g of flour. Four eggs, 200g of all-purpose flour, 200g of doppio zero flour and a pinch of salt later...


Too scared of making an eggy-flour mess of my counter/kitchen/entire life, I decided to use my stand mixer. This was where things went a little wrong. I didn't get to feel the dough in my hands as it was forming, and allowed my mixer to run until all of my flour was incorporated. Needless to say, it ended up drier than I'd hoped.



After kneading for what felt like forever, and then kneading some more, the gluten was sufficiently stretched, the dough had a nice elasticity to it, and most air bubbles were squished out. We all took a short 30 minute nap then got to rolling! I don't own a pasta rolling machine so Andrew and I went old-school and took turns using a rolling pin and patience. Now that took forever.


So what did we do with all of that pasta? Vegetarian carbonara! Replacing pancetta with halloumi, which I pan fried with garlic, shallots, and a bit of white wine, was pretty much the best food decision I've ever made.


I can't even tell you how deliciously creamy and salty all of this was when combined with the Parmesan and Pecorino Romano. I freshened up the whole thing a bit by adding a squeeze of lemon and a small amount of lemon zest at the end. The pasta itself had a great bite to it and only took, like, 4-5 minutes to cook.

Moral of the story: Pasta isn't that difficult to make and my love for halloumi knows absolutely no bounds.

Hearty Meals for Cooler Months

Now that there's a slight chill in the air I can finally start cooking and baking more comfortably. There's nothing like making comfort food while comfortable, right? I'm the type to bake homemade pizza with the oven at 500° when it's 90° out, making even the dogs miserable.

Lentils have never been a staple in my family, in fact we're the black/red/garbanzo type but I know tons of vegetarians eat 'em constantly. Being a rookie in the lentil department, I decided to find a super simple recipe for Red Lentil Curry. I used sweet potatoes in place of russet, and upped the ginger, garlic and curry powder.

Had I planned better I would have added more spice to balance out the sweetness. Instead, we busted out some Sriracha after the fact. I'm sure that's making some of you cringe, but my taste buds aren't sorry!

Now this next dish... Is it a casserole? A hash? What exactly does adding "bake" to end of the name even mean? I don't have answers to any of these questions but I can tell you this concoction was delicious. I can't take all the credit though, I found the Monster Meat Cornbread Bake recipe (lol) on bettycrocker.com of all places!

It's another quick and easy one-pan meal that I totally see myself making often during these cooler months. I'd venture to say my favorite part is not having one billion dirty dishes afterward since I'm notorious for using every dish in the kitchen when I cook. I'm sure Andrew also appreciates this. It's packed with layered onions, bell pepper, mashed sweet potatoes, lots of sharp cheddar cheese and topped with cornbread. Where's the monster meat portion? Well, I subbed veggie sausage for the smoked turkey sausage the recipe calls for.

When it comes to cornbread, I've always been partial to Jiffy and that little blue and white box that probably sparked an interest in package design in baby me ages ago. However, I'm excited to try making it from scratch next time! Do you have any amazing cornbread recipe recommendations? Give me links!

Biscuit Bake-Off

There will never be a day when I stop loving Red Lobster. In fact, Andrew and I were just there a couple months ago! Naturally, I chowed down on those melt-in-your-mouth mounds of buttery garlic heaven the waiter so graciously bestowed our table with until I was stuffed. Which of course happened before the food we actually ordered got to the table. I assume that's how everyone plays the Red Lobster game, right? At least that's how I've done it since I was a kid!

Last month I was introduced to the prepackaged Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix sold at Sam's Club. It comes with enough powder and herb packets to make a few batches, and it's less than $6. Not bad if you're in a pinch, but you know me—I love making things from scratch.


And there are countless recipes out there, you guys! Like, wow, the people have spoken and clearly we all really love these damn biscuits. A lot. I found tons for sprucing up Bisquick but I opted to pit the prepackaged mix against a fully made-from-scratch recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.


The difference in texture was obvious, but nothing was more recognizable than the smell! The prepackaged mix was completely odorless, while the homemade batch smelled so amazing I wish I could have bottled it.


While the biscuits baked, I prepped the butter toppings for each. The herb packet is where the prepackaged mix really shined. I'm not completely sure what was in it, but BEB's combination of garlic and parsley didn't stand a chance!


Once out of the oven I could see how much the prepackaged mix spread outward whereas the homemade batch rose, as biscuits should (though I'm no drop biscuit expert—these were actually the first ones I've ever made!). So, which was best??

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix
Brown Eyed Baker's Cheddar Bay Biscuits
The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe, hands down! The fantastic biscuits were flaky on the inside and just crispy enough on the outside. And as much as I loved that herb packet, the prepackaged mix was just too doughy to compete. Both were excellent the next day (and the next) after being reheated in the oven. I even made grilled cheese out of them with the leftover cheddar I used in each recipe! We literally have biscuits for days, you guys. It's intense.

Brussels Sprouts Dip

Time for a food post! Truth be told, I haven't been doing much cooking lately... I've been a bit busier than normal with the handful of events I've attended recently, as well as with my trip to New York. So, I figured now is as good a time as any to share this delicious dip I made a little while back. It was to die for and I'll probably make it again tomorrow because the memory of it (plus Andrew's photos) is already making my mouth water.


I originally found the recipe for this dip online which, of course, I can't locate now... Luckily, I revamped it as I went along and my scribblings have been hanging on our fridge ever since!


Before you even introduce any of the creamy/cheesy ingredients into the mix, the Brussels sprouts are totally worth eating. Often times we'll eat them just like that, with shallots and garlic alone, as a side.


Ingredients
16 oz Brussels sprouts, quartered
2 shallots, thinly chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz sour cream
6 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup shredded Gruyère
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Directions
1. Over medium heat, cook shallots and garlic in a cast iron skillet for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add Brussels sprouts, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and cook till bright green - up to 7 minutes if you like your greens a lightly charred (like me).
3. Combine sour cream and cheeses in a mixing bowl, add additional salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Add Brussels sprouts and shallots to the bowl and mix.
4. Scoop dip back into the skillet and bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned on top - you can also stick it in your broiler for an additional minute or two.
5. Serve with tortilla chips!


It was so deliciously creamy and you know I'm all about creamy-cheesy goodness. I promise we eat more veggies than just Brussels sprouts. We just love them so much!

French Onion Soup Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Did you read that title and immediately think “uh...?” while salivating a bit? Because that was basically my reaction when I found out about these sandwiches. We are very pro-grilled cheese in this house so any and all twists are welcomed! There are quite a number of recipes out there for this particular sandwich but it's so simple, you really don't need one.


Take just about everything you'd use to make french onion soup but rearrange things a bit. Caramelize two medium onions in butter and oil, sugar, thyme, and white wine or broth, grate some delicious Swiss gruyère, spread lots o' butter on thick slices of a baguette or, in my case, sourdough and boom, you're in business!


I went to town on these onions but that's because we love super-caramelized onions. Keep an eye on them if you're not too keen on them becoming too brown, you don't want to end up with burned onions!


After letting your bread soak up a good amount of butter, top with the onions and grated cheese. Grating the cheese will help with the melting process, so don't skip that step! It will result in an amazingly gooey sandwich.


I combined and modified these two recipes from Tasty Kitchen and Portuguese Girl Cooks to come up with the above. I strongly suggest you make these. STRONGLY!

Comida Venezolana

Most of the food I cook is based off of my mother's lessons in the kitchen growing up, as I assume is true for many people. While I enjoy branching out and trying lots of new recipes, those old traditional meals bring me a lot of comfort. Now, I'm not sure if I've written about being Venezuelan before, but my father was born and raised in Maracaibo. He, my mother and I would fly back every summer till I was about 7 or 8. Sadly, I haven't been back since but I remember it fondly and relive those memories (even if it's just a little bit) when making one of the traditional Venezuelan foods that my family has always eaten: arepas.


Arepas are delicious patties made from corn flour that you slice open and stuff with various toppings, then eat like a sandwich. They're simple and absolutely amazing. I mean it! They're also pretttty messy. Dominó, which is stuffed with traditional black beans and white cheese (plus nata), was always most popular in my family. Since I have no idea where to find nata or the proper white cheese from my childhood memories, I just use crema Mexicana and queso fresco.


Like most delicious latin@ food I know how to make, I start my beans with sofrito. There are a lot of recipes online and it's even sold in jars in stores. I was raised on the green, tomato-less kind but I'm sure the red stuff is delicious.


Normally I'd boil the arepas then bake them like I did in this giant feast, which was actually the first time I cooked for my in-laws(!), but my mom recently suggested I switch things up and make the masa with milk (whaaaat??) and fry 'em. TOTAL GAME CHANGER. These were so delicious.


Apparently in Puerto Rico, arepas are made with coconut milk, lard or butter, flour, and baking powder. I'm pretty pumped to make them like that next time, minus the lard of course! Have you ever had arepas?

A Not-So-Brief Hiatus

Wow! A full month since my last post... I'm not totally sure, but I don't think that's how you blog? There was a trip to New York (finally!), then I got sick, plus holiday (giftmas) planning. It's safe to say I lost track of time and I've yet to finish my cat face sweater. So, instead of a post dedicated to my shortcomings in the craft department, I'll share some more food I've made recently.


Thanks to one of my favorite sweethearts of the internet, Dorothy, I found this great garlic knot recipe. To accompany the knots, I decided fettuccine Alfredo would be perfect since it's so damn simple. Just throw together equal parts Parmesan, cream, and butter. Just kidding! But only a little...


The recipe makes a simple pizza dough which can totally be subbed by store-bought stuff. Though the dough had to rise for over an hour (90 mins), as all pizza dough does, the process moved along fairly quickly.

The fact that they were absolutely adorable certainly helped.

Once they were all done and slathered in garlicky, buttery goodness, we could not resist! It took us all of three days to eat just over 20. Oh, and the fettuccine Alfredo was good, too. Adding a bit of lemon juice and zest took it above and beyond. A+.

The Battle of the Gratins

While thumbing through an issue of Real Simple I grabbed out of the recycling bin at work, I came across a real simple (lol) recipe for a Spinach and Gruyère Gratin. I've never made (or eaten) a gratin other than scalloped potatoes, so I figured why not? I mean, there's cream, wine, eggs, shallots, and Gruyère in there! All of which I love.


After buying almost 50oz in frozen chopped spinach, it hit me: we were about to be inundated with spinach! Maybe I should halve the recipe?? Of course this is was after I purchased all my ingredients. Luckily, I had everything I needed to try Ina Garten's Spinach Gratin, too. Let the battle begin!

Real Simple's on the left and Ina Garten's on the right.


Real Simple's was much heartier due to the eggs and reminded me more of a frittata than anything. The wine-cooked shallots were delicious and my addition of garlic was smart (duh). Ina's was definitely creamier and more dip-like, but I wish it had a little more flavor. Honestly, I still don't know which one I enjoyed more. We ate both with toasted pita wedges the first day, spread atop a pizza the next, and tossed with capellini pasta, tomatoes and garlic for the next two meals. Surprisingly, we weren't completely sick of spinach by the end of the week!

For the Love of Sprouts

When I was a kid I never ever ate Brussels sprouts, but not because I thought they were awful, my mom just never cooked them. I'm not entirely sure if that's a Latin@ thing or what... I do remember picking one up at the grocery store once and peeling each leaf off while my mom pushed our cart (she had no idea I was doing this (lol)), and that's my entire history with the tiny cabbage.

Imagine my surprise when I saw unpicked Brussels sprouts at Trader Joe's! Both cute and terrifying on their stalks. Lots of little things gross me out often times.

(Photo courtesy of @jozjozjoz)
Last week, I braved through my fear and tested Smitten Kitchen's Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts. They were so good I made them again Monday night! I recommend the recipe, hands down, especially because so many recipes call for bacon or bacon fat and I don't eat meat (and maybe you don't either?).

Oh, shallots, how I love youuu. Why do you bring me endless tears? :'(


The sprouts are braised in white wine (I used Yellow Tail Chardonnay) and (veggie!) broth then removed to make a ridiculous sauce with Dijon mustard and cream. I wish I would have made more sauce so the sprouts (I) could've swam in it!


I paired the sprouts with tilapia, our household staple. Normally, I pan fry it with a bit of olive oil, garlic, and onions; instead I broiled it with a lemony concoction of butter, lemon juice, and lots of parmesan. So nice and gooey!


If my mom had cooked Brussels sprouts like these when I was a kid, I'm sure I would have loved them as much as I do now. They're just so rich and full of flavor!