How to Impress The World with Your Cooking

Knowing how to cook can improve your social life as well as your health. Knowing how to cook includes making good food that tastes delicious, not dumping a can of ramen noodles into a pot of boiling water or microwaving Campbell’s soup.

I cannot say I have mastered cooking, but I continue to learn how to make delicious homemade meals. Knowing how to make homemade pasta has brought me closer to my family and friends. It is so much fun spending a night cooking with my family and bonding over a delicious meal we made together. When I’ve had friends over we have occasionally made pasta together. I show them how to use the machine and they get the pleasure of making their own meal. It is truly an enjoyable and unique activity.

Friends and family will appreciate your meals and if you are single, knowing how to cook might help get you a date! Dinner time is a perfect time to bond with family, so why not bond over a delicious healthy meal?

Being able to cook for yourself also makes you independent and prevents you from spending more money. Going out to dinner every night can be very expensive, you need to pay for a prepared meal as well as tip your waitress or waiter. Knowing how to cook for yourself saves time, money and it makes your more independent.

By making homemade pasta you are sure to impress your guests. The food tastes great, you put in the time and effort and you know what is in your food!

Your path to being a good cook starts here! 

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF PASTA

Spaghetti directly after cooked.

 

After all this talk on how to make homemade pasta, what ingredients to use and how to make it healthy, I have come to my ultimate conclusion for this entire blog, THE IMPORTANCE OF PASTA.

Pasta makes us happy! It is present in many different dishes from cultures all over the world. It provides us with necessary whole grains and energy from complex carbohydrates. Pasta is the base of thousands of dishes. With the right sauce and ingredients it can be savory, spicy, sweet, salty or  any taste you can imagine.

Pasta is my favorite food because it is in numerous dishes, including Italian dishes which bring me closer to my heritage. Making homemade pasta provides me with a creative outlet and it keeps me healthy.

Ask yourself what pasta can do for you and what you can do WITH pasta.

For more information on the importance of pasta for your health, here is a credible article from The Food Journal and Food, Nutrition & Science.

Make Your Own Ravioli!

E ‘il momento di fare i ravioli!

It is time to make Ravioli!

You’ll need organic eggs, Semolina flour and olive oil.

Now that you have your ingredients, kitchen-aid pasta maker and ravioli cutter you need to decide what you want to stuff into your ravioli.

Some delicious stuffings include ricotta cheese, mozzarella, goat cheese, spinach, beef and lobster if you’re feeling fancy.

 

Just like with your other pasta, use the Semolina Flour Egg Past recipe, unless you decide to make whole wheat pasta.

For a healthy and basic vegetarian dish I recommend stuffing your ravioli with ricotta cheese. Here is a great homemade ricotta recipe from Food Network’s Ina Garten.

Once you have made your pasta and have put it through the Pasta Roller, take out your Norpro Ravioli Maker.

If this is your first time using the ravioli maker follow these directions on how to use it from my last post.

 

• Fill each ravioli valley with about two teaspoons of ricotta.
• Make sure to glaze the pasta with egg whites, so when you attach the top layer of pasta the layers stick together.
• Align the top layer of pasta above the bottom.
• Take your roller and roll over your Norpro.

*In my experience I had a difficult time getting the Norpro to cut the ravioli. Make sure you press hard when rolling.*

When the Pasta is pressed enough with the roller, the serrated edges should cut through the pasta. Then you should be able to peal off the left over scrapes of dough and push out your ravioli squares.

Cook the ravioli in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, then Bon Appetite!

For the Health Nut

You know how to make pasta of different shapes and sizes, you know how to make your perfect sauce, now you can control the taste and healthiness of your pasta. If you’re looking to eat healthier, maybe you should try this super healthy homemade recipe from all recipes. This is whole wheat pasta that’s delicious and healthy! Instead of using Johnsonville’s ground meat, buy organic meat from your friendly neighborhood Whole Foods. Whole Foods’ beef has no GMOs and is overall healthier than other name brands.

As a kid, whenever my mother told me she was going to Whole Foods I would go with her without complaints. Whole Foods always has an abundance of organic products, from soaps to clothes to all of their food products. Although Whole Foods can be pricey, their products are worth it. It can be expensive only shopping at Whole Foods, which is why I recommend you also buy a portion of your groceries from other stores such as Trader Joe’s, Costco/BJ’s, Market Fair, Publix, your local market or even Stop & Shop. Make sure you always read the ingredients and look for the organic label. If you read a very long list of ingredients with words you can’t pronounce, that’s probably a sign that the product isn’t organic. Look out for 365 products from Whole Foods.

Here is a vegetarian recipe from Whole Foods.

Even if you aren’t looking for a dietary recipe try different types of pastas. Add whatever you want to your pasta and be creative!

The Perfect Sauce

To complete your homemade meal you need to make your perfect homemade sauce. You want a sauce that isn’t watery and not too acidy. You want a sauce that’s not too sweet and not too spicy, unless you’re making a diavolo, but that’s a different recipe. I try to avoid canned food at all costs because of BPA concerns and preservatives. Some may also agree that homemade sauce just tastes better.

Here is my recipe for my very own homemade marinara sauce:

In a Dutch Oven Pot-

10 tomatoes (1st chopped and pureed in blender)

2 tbs of tomato paste

1/4 cup of olive oil

4-6 cloves of garlic sliced thin

1 1/2 cups of chopped carrots

1 cup of chopped celery

1/2 cup of diced onions

1 tsp of crushed red pepper

1 tsp of chopped fresh basil

1 cup of red wine

1 bay leave

1 tbs of sugar

2 tsp of kosher salt

1 tsp of black pepper

1 tsp of chopped fresh oregano

Here is another great recipe, this one is from allrecipes.com 

Making your own sauce can be a hassle, which is why I can admit to buying store bought sauce. I recommend organic sauces such as Paul Newman’s, Victoria, Bertolli, Muir Glen and San Marzano. Also, any sauce from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s is tasty and healthy.

I also recommend using Hunts tomato paste, Tuttorosso, San Marzano and Pomi crushed tomatoes in a box.

*Refer to my 8th post to choose what pastas go with what sauces best.

Affordable and Green Pots

When cooking pasta or making sauce I recommend you use a Cast Iron Dutch Oven Pot.

They are easy to clean, environmentally friendly and you can purchase them at any kitchen appliance store or on Amazon.

It is a bad idea to cook sauce in an iron pot or pan because the iron can affect the taste of the sauce. Once, when I accidentally cooked sauce in an iron skillet, the sauce tasted like iron because of the acidity. Cast iron skillets are good to use as long as you do not use them to cook acidic foods such as tomato sauce. They are great for cooking vegetables and meat for your sauces and can be found here! The Dutch Oven is enameled, meaning it’s coated so there will be no taste of iron in your sauce.

You can purchase one here on Amazon for only $49.00!

There is also an abundance of pots and pans at Williams-Sonoma, which I will discuss in my next post.

Macaroni & Cheese!

Ina Garten’s Mac n Cheese Recipe

What’s better than Macaroni and Cheese?

This recipe by Ina Garten is delicious for the kids and adults.

With the Kitchen Aid Pasta Press you can make your very own macaroni for your Barefoot Contessa recipe.

When you get to your preferred macaroni length cut the pasta off with the swipe blade.

When I first made macaroni with the pasta press I had a very difficult time. The noodles would sometimes stick together on the blade before I could pull them off. Make sure you use plenty of flour and I recommend having macaroni at least an inch long.

Pasta and its Many Shapes and Sizes

Now that you know how to make your pasta dough and use your Kitchen Aid, you have to decide what type of pasta you want to make. There are many different shapes and sizes you can make with pasta. Some pastas are better with specific sauces than other pastas. There is a reason macaroni and cheese is made with macaroni instead of spaghetti, and Penne Alla Vodka is made with penne. Together we will address the best dishes to make with each pasta.

With the Kitchen Aid Pasta Press you can make any type of pasta you’d like. The Kitchen Aid Pasta Press kit includes the six different pasta shapes, spaghetti, bucatini, fusilli, rigatoni, small macaroni and large macaroni.

When making a thick or meaty sauce such as Bolognese, it is best to use penne pasta. The hollow noodles hold onto the meat sauce, while fettuccine leaves the sauce behind. Do you every wonder why no one ever makes Spaghetti Alla Vodka? Penne al Vodka, my mom’s favorite, is full of onions, cream, ham/pancetta and chopped tomatoes. My mom’s favorite penne al a vodka recipe comes from the 2001 Special Anniversary issue of Gourmet magazine. She has used this recipe for the past decade and has received countless compliments from friends and family.

Click on image to be taken to the website.

Here is the penne attachment for the Pasta Press.

This is a unique recipe that will be passed down through generations.

My father’s favorite pasta dish is Pasta Puttanesca. Pasta Puttanesca includes capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and tomatoes. I recommend using penne or fusilli. The cork screw pasta holds all the sauce and its ingredients.

Here is a great recipe for puttanesca sauce from Food & Wine. 

In my next post I will be sharing my favorite Mac n Cheese recipe!

Tutorial on How to Make Pasta with The Pasta Press

1. Similarly to The Pasta Roller, The Pasta Press is also a Kitchen Aid product and can be purchased at a kitchenware retailer or here on Amazon.
2. You have the option to make pasta from the six different pasta rings: fusili, rigatoni, bucatini, spaghetti, large and small macaroni. Refer back to the pasta recipe on my third post.
3. When using the pasta press, make sure to push the dough far into to machine so it can easily filter through the pasta ring.
4. You can chose the length you would like your pasta to be by swiping the attached blade to cut off the noodles.
5. Here is a video tutorial from Williams-Sonoma : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32pVBck4S8Y
6. When you finish making the pasta, I recommend you let the pasta rings sit in hot water and then use a tooth pick to pick out any residual dough.
7. For more information visit my 3rd and 5th post.

Tutorial on How to Make Pasta with The Pasta Roller

The Pasta Roller is easy to use, maybe not your first time, but that’s what directions are for. I’m going to provide you with the steps for using the Pasta Roller.

When I was a young teen using the Pasta Roller for the first time, I didn’t understand the point of using the machine to roll out the dough. Although the Pasta Press doesn’t require you to roll out the dough, the Pasta Roller does. I thought, why couldn’t I just use a wooden roller? After the first couple times using the roller I realized just how much easier it was to have the Kitchen Aid attachment do the work for me. If I had spent the time rolling out the dough I would have be exhausted and the dough might have become too wide to fit into the cutter. After enough practice using the roller, I also learned how to feel the pasta. What I mean by this is when you feed the pasta sheet into the roller, with enough experience you begin to recognize what the perfect pasta texture and thickness feels like. I know just by feeling the pasta when it’s sticky and needs more flour, and when it’s too thick and needs to be rolled out. The Pasta Roller allows you to get your hands involved, but it also doesn’t work you too hard.

1. In order to use to Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller, you need a Kitchen-Aid Mixer. The Kitchen Aid Mixer is one of the most useful kitchen appliances, and if you like to cook, this is a necessity. Williams-Sonoma is an excellent store to get any Kitchen appliance. I will provide more information on Williams-Sonoma in my 10^th post. You can also easily order it on Amazon here.
2. For the Pasta Roller, make sure you buy the three set attachment so you can make fettuccine or spaghetti. You can also buy this at Williams-Sonoma or here on Amazon.
3. The pasta roller easily attaches to the front of the kitchen aid. All you need to do is remove the small screw, pop the lid off, insert the attachment until you hear a click and twist the screw back in to secure the roller.
4. Here is a great video tutorial on how to make pasta using The Pasta Roller by Nikki Dinki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY-GL5FINOA 
5. And this is a short clip by Kitchen Aid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYHuA-69vqs
6. For more information on how to use The Pasta Roller to make homemade pasta, visit my 2nd and 4th post.