Cheese & Mushroom Ravioli with Butter Herb Sauce

Pappardelle Bolognese

Chopped Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Fresh Berry Galette

Deconstructed Wedge Salad

Ingredients

1/2 head iceberg lettuce roughly chopped

1/2 large tomato diced

1 green onion thinly sliced

2 strips bacon cooked and crumbled

1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

For the Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing:

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients for the dressing together in a medium bowl and set aside (it’s best to do this at least a couple of hours in advance and refrigerate to let the flavors marry together).

Arrange the iceberg lettuce on a large platter.

Top the lettuce with the blue cheese dressing. The dressing is thick, so try your best to evenly distribute it across the surface.

Top with tomatoes, bacon, green onion, and blue cheese crumbles.

Fresh Pasta Dough

yeild: 2 servings

1 ¼ cups (6.25oz) all purpose flour

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

  Making fresh pasta dough is fun and very easy. Traditionally, the dough is mixed directly on a board or counter but it is acceptable to begin the dough in a bowl to limit the cleanup. Laminate counter tops are fine for kneading dough but natural or engineered stone is best as it is non-porous and maintains constant temperature, especially important when working with yeast doughs.

  In a bowl or on a countertop, combine the salt and flour. Using your fingers, create a well in the center of the mound, being sure that the well’s walls are equally thick and high. In a separate container, combine eggs and olive oil. Scramble eggs with a fork to incorporate oil.

  Add 1/3 of egg/oil mixture to center of well. Using a swirling motion, pull flour from inner walls of well into eggs and mix until it forms a thick paste. If working on a countertop, be careful not to break through the walls of the well as egg will run out over the work surface. When center is no longer runny, add half of remaining egg mixture and stir to paste. Add remaining liquid and repeat. Continue to mix until fork is no longer effective and then turn dough out onto work surface.

  Knead dough by flattening, folding it in half and pressing hard with the palm of your hand. Rotate 90’ and repeat over and over until dough is a consistent color (no patches of flour or egg mixture) and begins to feel springy. Pasta dough should be visibly bumpy but soft and smooth to the touch. To test, press a finger into dough. The depression made by your finger should spring back almost entirely. Flatten dough into a disk 1 ½ inches thick, wrap with saran and place in cooler to rest for 20-30 minutes or until finger divot does not bounce back. This means that the gluten that was excited in the kneading process has relaxed and the dough is ready to be rolled and cut.

Portabella Mushroom and Cheese Ravioli

yield: 20-24 Ravioli

1/3 cup ricotta cheese, strained

1 large portabella top, grilled, pureed and drained

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

¼ teaspoon garlic, minced

1 oz egg, beaten

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Pinch ground black pepper

1 recipe fresh pasta dough

Warm water and silicone pastry brush

  Split pasta dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll the pasta dough into. Fold edges before rolling so pasta sheets are roughly rectangular in shape

  Using a 3 ½ inch round cookie cutter, cut as many pasta disks from 2 of the 4 pasta sheets as possible, leaving as little scrap as you can. If dough is still moist and pliable, knead trimmings into a ball, flatten one end and repeat the process to create another sheet and repeat cutting.

  Place ½ spoonful of cheese/spinach stuffing off center on each dough round, careful not to overstuff or ravio;I will not close. Once all disks have been filled, brush uncovered edge with water using a silicone pastry brush and carefully fold in half making a half-moon. Use a fork to crimp edges to seal. Set aside on a rimmed baking sheet dusted with semolina flour.

  To cook, bring a pot of generously salted water to a full rolling boil. Add all pasta at once, waiting 20 seconds before stirring gently. As ravioli cooks it will float to the top. Cook until all ravioli is floating and water begins to return to a boil, about 4-5 minutes. Gently pour contents of pasta pot into a colander, or 2 separate colanders if it is a large amount of ravioli so they do not get compressed. Drain for 1 minute and transfer to mixing bowl with half of marinara sauce.

  Serve onto warmed dinner plates and ladle with desired amount of remaining sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley and freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Herb and Brown Butter Sauce

yeild: 8 servings                                                                           

8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced

½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced

1 tablespoon fresh basil, chiffonade

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced

1 tablespoon fresh chives, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 pinch ground black pepper

  In a medium skillet, melt butter. If using a cast iron skillet you will need a stainless steel spoon to check color of butter. Continue to cook butter at 175 degrees until it browns slightly. Butter will take on a nutty aroma but do not burn.

  Add herbs and spices all at once and sauté for 1 minute, until butter becomes aromatic, increasing heat to 200 degrees if necessary. Add vinegar and turn off heat, scraping any fond from bottom of pan. Taste and adjust flavor with more salt and pepper if needed.

Bolognese Sauce

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons Butter

¼ chopped onion

½ stalk chopped celery

½ carrot diced

5 oz ground chuck

3 oz ground pork

4 oz milk

4 oz white wine

2 cups tomatoes cut up

Salt and pepper

Pinch nutmeg

2 oz parmigiano cheese

Put oil, butter and onion in pan and cook on medium heat. Cook and stir until onion is translucent, then add celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes.

Add ground meats with salt and pepper, cook until no longer red. While cooking make sure to crumble the meat.

Add milk and let simmer, stirring frequently, until it has almost evaporated, add pinch of nutmeg.

Add wine and deglaze the pan, stirring until evaporated.  Add tomatoes and stir thoroughly. Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer, cook uncovered for 3 hours or more. Add water if sauce begins to dry out.

Summer Berry Galette

Ingredients

¾ cup strawberry or raspberry jam

4 teaspoons corn starch

1 tablespoon sugar plus more for sprinkling

¾ cup sliced strawberries

¾ cup blueberries

½ cup raspberries

½ cup blackberries

1 pre-packaged rolled pie crust (I use Pillsbury) or homemade dough

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper

Place jam in a microwave-safe, medium-size bowl. Microwave on high power for 30 seconds to “loosen” jam. Add cornstarch and sugar. Stir to combine.

Add fruit to jam mixture and stir gently to combine.

Unroll pie crust and place on prepared sheet pan.

Transfer fruit and jam mixture to center of pie crust. Spread out in an even layer to within 1 ½ inches of edges. (see Café Tips above in post.)

Bring edges of pie crust over fruit, pleating every couple of inches. Sprinkle edges of crust with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen custard, if desired.

Galette Dough

Ingredients

Crust

1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for work surface

2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) cold unsalted butter, cubed*

1/4 cup (60ml) ice-cold water, plus more as needed

egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk

optional: coarse sugar

Make the crust: Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse pea-sized crumbs. Add the water and stir until the flour is moistened. Add 1–2 more Tablespoons of water if the dough seems dry. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using your hands, work the dough into a ball. Flatten it into a thick disc. Wrap the dough disc in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.

As the dough chills, prepare the filling