COOKING CLUB

I think I've briefly mentioned my cooking club to you all before.

Every Monday morning (well, probably a little closer to afternoon than morning), I meet with some friends (usually 4 or 5 of us total) for cooking club. We all pick a house, a time (then, mentally set the time back a 1/2 hour or more), and a recipe that serves 4.

We all share our chosen recipe through email, usually Sunday night--sometimes Monday morning, then tell each person whether we want their meal or not.

I tally up my partakers, and set out shopping for my recipes ingredients multiplied by however many people want my meal.
For instance, if 3 people responded yes to my recipe--I shop for 4 times that recipe (myself, plus the 3 others). 


I keep my receipt, of course, then divide my total cost by 4 (or however many people I shopped for)--and that's how much each person owes me! It ends up coming out to $7-$12 per meal--although this week, I got a fantastic $2 meal!

With this system--I don't really have to go grocery shopping ever, I don't have to make dinner, we have TONS of food (plus leftovers!), and it only costs around $40 a week (for 4 meals--l usually only end up getting 1 or 2 meals since there are only 2 of us--which brings it to under $20 a week for us!)

Get it?

We meet at the designated house on Monday morning afternoon, at the designated time (that's been mentally pushed back at least a half hour by all), and we all cook our designated chosen recipes.

We all bring containers (which I usually forget, oops!) for the meals we've ordered from everyone, for easy transport back home.

It's genius, really.

That way, if I've chosen to get everyones recipe, I end up with 4-5 meals and I don't have to cook for the rest of the week! It's sort of like a I have my own personal chefs.
Insert Advertisement: Need a personal chef? I am know a recent graduate who is looking for clients!

We even have time while our meals are cooling to do fun activities... Like go to a greenhouse and pick out lots of pretty flowers and plants! 

With all the fun we have, you'd think we never had any time to get cooking done.

But we do.

We sure do.

And it's delicious!

It's fun to see what other people normally have for dinners, and to experience their cooking. It's fun to try things you never would have thought to make yourself. 

I'll try to share at least one recipe a week from cooking club...Maybe I'll make a Cooking Club Monday post every week.

Yes. I will. I will dub every Monday as Cooking Club Monday. 

But this week, and this week only, it will be Cooking Club Wednesday. 

This week I have for you:

Sausage Tortellini Soup

Printable Recipe

This recipe was made at cooking club, so these are the only steps I had to take at home in preparing the meal = Excuse for lack of pictures.

I told you I'd show you a picture of my pretty blue pot with its pretty blue lid.

See? Pretty.

Click to see the recipe!

Yummmmm! 

Enjoy.

Portobello Ravioli with Heaven Sauce

I'm backkkkk!

Well, I actually got back on Monday night--but things have been quite hectic since then. As it turns out, our power was out the entire week we were on vacation. No good. Very no good.

It was really really no good on Tuesday morning when I threw entirely everything away from my rotting, stinky refrigerator.

Next weeks grocery bill is going to break the budget, that's for sure.

But alas, vacation was splendid--it was nice to see everyone that we only get to see every half a year or so (the Hubs & I are both from Michigan so most of our family and friends are still there...)
My plants all survived the week--this year, unlike last year, I remembered to find them a sitter.

So, are you drooling from the preview of the recipe I'm about to share with you? I am. I actually made it a few weeks ago--and the thought of it still has me weak at the knees.

Portobello Ravioli with Smoky Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

Inspired by Ravioli de Portobello from Olive Garden 


(Printable Recipe)

What you'll need:

For the raviolis:

1 batch of pasta dough

1 pound of portobello mushrooms

1 onion

1/4 cup butter
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano

For the sauce:

2 cups of milk

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

8 ounces of smoked gouda
1 cup grated parmesan

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

For the ravioli:

You'll need 1 pound of portobello mushrooms--I used the baby ones.

To wash mushrooms--I usually run them under cold water for a second, just to get them wet, then with a paper towel, just wipe off any gunk or dirt. They will probably still look dirty, but as long as they are free of dirt, they are fine. You will never be able to scrub them entirely white.

Chop the mushrooms into a fine dice...

Annnd...keep chopping...

You'll need to do the same with a small onion.

This would have been a nice time to have a food processor. If you have one, please, by all means, use it. It's worth it.

Heat a medium fry pan on medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add 1/4 cup of butter. When the butter is melted, add the onion stirring until translucent, then add the mushrooms. 

Cook the mushrooms and onions until they are soft. Season this mixture with salt, pepper, garlic powder (or fresh chopped garlic--I was rushed), and oregano--to taste. Set this aside to let it cool.

With the pasta dough (recipe here), I left you with your dough rolled into a ball, resting.

Uncover your dough, and start rolling it out. If it's sticky, dust the countertop with flour (it's okay to use a lot). Cut the dough into 4 sections--this will make rolling much, much easier.

At this point, I started to use my pasta machine to roll the rest of the dough. If you don't have one of those--just keep rolling!  You want your dough to be relatively thin--about the thickness of a quarter.

Keep rolling, rolling, rolling...Keep that pasta rolling...Rolling, rolling, rolling...Roll outtttt.

When your dough is ready--lay it out in a sheet on the counter. Spoon tablespoon sized scoops of the filling onto the dough in a grid-like pattern.

With a finger, brush water or egg yolk in the seams.
Place an equal sized sheet of dough on top of your filling-mounds.

Carefully, start pressing the two layers of dough together around the mounds...

With a pizza cutter (or a knife), cut the ravioli into squares.
Seal each individual ravioli--pressing out all the air pockets.

You may to, then, trim the edges so the pieces are more uniform in shape.

Tada!

To cook these--heat a large pot of water. Bring it to a rapid boil and throw in a large handful of salt. I cannot stress two points enough: LARGE pot. LARGE handful of salt.

You need the large pot so the raviolis have room to swim around and not stick to each other.
You need a lot of salt in the water to season the pasta. The water should taste like saltwater. This really makes a difference, I promise.

These will only need to cook for about 3-4 minutes.

For the sauce:

Git yer gouda...

And shred it. All of it.

I want to tell you a secret about this gouda.

I was shopping for my gouda--looking in the fancy cheese section of my grocery store. There they had an 8 ounce block of Boar's Head Smoked Gouda for $8.99. $8.99! For a half a pound!

Then I thought about something...
I thought, "Hmm...We used to get Boars Head Smoked Gouda at work--and it came in a big block that you have to slice like a deli does...I wonder if the deli here has it too?!"

So, I wandered over to the deli counter--and lo and behold, they had a big ole block of smoked gouda. And guess what?! It was $8.99 for an entire pound! That's half the price!

I asked the kind, deli-sir to put the slicer as thick as it would go and slice me a nice chunk of the cheese. He rang it in--and it was on sale!
So here it is, I got .62 pounds of this cheese for $4.95, instead of .5 pounds of the same cheese, just individually wrapped, for $8.99--in the same grocery store.

I should be an extreme couponer. Except without the coupons. Just the brains.

I also grated about 1 cup of parmesan cheese.

Then I chopped up some sun-dried tomatoes to have them ready.

Next, I heated my sauce pan and melted my butter.
Once the butter was melted, I added the flour.

Stir the butter and flour around until it forms a clump.
Yes, a clump. That's the best word I can think of to describe it.

Once in clump state, slowly start adding the milk.
I added about 1/2 cup at a time.

Make sure the milk is entirely mixed in before adding more.
This will prevent lumps.
It's a slow process, but it will be soooo worth it when you sauce is velvety and smooth--not lumpy and floury.

You should end up with a thick, smooth cream that tastes really gross.
So lets make it taste better!
Add in the grated cheeses--save a little of the parmesan for sprinkling later

Also, add in the dice sun-dried tomatoes.
Stir in some salt and pepper, as well as garlic powder, until it tastes how you like it.

This sauce is absolutely delicious.
Drool.....


Cook your raviolis--then just dump gobs and gobs of sauce on top.
This will be the best ravioli you've ever had.
No, seriously. It will be.
Like, I licked my plate. I really did.

Yum.

How To: Basic Pasta Dough

Homemade Pasta > Store Bought Pasta

There is nothing quite like it. It's hard to describe--that flavor...Mmm, and that texture...Yum! It actually has flavor, and it actually has texture. 

AND you can control the flavor--that's the biggest advantage I see to making pasta at home. You want spinach pasta? Add a little spinach. Want herby pasta? Add some herbs.

The dough is very versatile and you can make whatever kind of pasta you want to out of it (ravioli, spaghetti, tortellini, etc..)

It's very easy, and it doesn't take too long either! 

Basic Pasta Dough

Printable Version
Recipe by Tyler Florence


You'll need:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Cornmeal, for dusting

Get your mise en place all ready.

Mise en place means 'everything in its place', meaning measure all your ingredients and have them handy before you start cooking. The first step to mise en place is always to read the entire recipe from start to finish, so you know what to expect.

Dump the flour onto a clean working surface, mix in the salt

Make it into a pretty little mound, then create a little well in the center

Beat the eggs (Oops, I forgot to!) and

Add the olive oil as well...

Start to lightly beat the eggs, gradually draw flour into the mixture while beating.

Slowly, but surely, draw more and more flour into the mixture until a firm dough starts to form.

Then, start kneading the dough.

If the dough is too dry and hard to knead, add a little hot water.
Knead until elastic-ey, form into a ball. Dust the tabletop with cornmeal as needed to prevent sticking.



If you're using an electric mixer...It's even easier!

Put the flower (oops) flour in a mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment...

Add the eggs and mix on low.

Slowly drizzle in the olive oil...

Mix until it comes together as a dough, then dump out onto a floured/cornmealed surface.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic-ey.

This is what a picture looks like with horrible lighting.

Roll the dough into a ball.

Orrr...

A butt! Bahahaha.

Then cover it with plastic and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Ta da! Pasta dough.

To use the dough, simple roll it out into a thin sheet & cut it into whichever shape you'd like.

To cook homemade pasta--it takes MUCH less time. Cook in boiling, heavily-salted water for 3-4 minutes until al dente. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce, pesto, or simply butter & parmesan cheese.

Bon Appetit!

Baked Ziti

No, no. I haven't forgotten about you guys--promise! It's just been a really busy week. I haven't forgotten to take pictures of my cooking, though. I just haven't had time to post what we've had for dinner the rest of the week.

I left off with Monday when we had delicious Scallops & Pasta. On Tuesday night we ended up going to our friend's house for dinner. Then, Wednesday, I broke we broke our no going out to dinner deal and went out to dinner. Boo, us. But, in my defense, when you've had a long week by Wednesday, you deserve some good comforting Mexican food. Right?



So, back to Tuesday. We went to our good friend's house and scarfed down an Italian Feast! Phil made us all a delicious baked ziti--and he shared his top secret recipe with me! So, while I don't have step by step instructions for you, I do have a scrum-diddly-umptious recipe for a rather simple and satisfying dinner!



Baked Ziti Made by Phil Brock. Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

Yumyumyum. Delicious and simple. Serve with garlic toast and a caesar salad. Perfect weeknight dinner!

Outtake: While I was setting the timer...

I should have Pork Tenderloin with apples & leeks and cauliflower gratin for you tomorrow (or Monday)...Until then, I leave you with a brain-teaser :

At 7 a.m. a high-speed electric train moving 90 mph leaves New York heading for Chicago. At 8 a.m. a train running 110 mph leaves Chicago heading for New York. The distance between the two cities is 700 miles. The weather and the wind speed is exactly the same for both trains. Since neither train experiences any delays, when the two trains meet which one will be closer to New York?

Scallops & Pasta

I've never made scallops before. Apparently it's just not something they teach you in school...So I Googled it. You find anything on Google. I learned how to crochet from Google. I learned how to use Oxyclean from Google. I learned how to get my dog to stop barking from Google. I learned how to cook scallops from Google.

Now, via Google, you will learn too.

Tonight for dinner we had Scallops and Pasta.

Paul LOVES scallops. He's not able to eat them very often, but I'm sure if asked, he'd say they are one of his favorite foods. Me, eh, I'm not the biggest fan--but anything for my boo. I do like pasta, though. Yummm pasta...So this dinner worked well for the both of us--and it was really quite simple.


The first thing you need to do is put a pot on to boil the pasta. Don't forget to salt the water. I cannot stress this enough, folks! You need to salt you pasta water! And I'm not just talking a pinch, I'm saying add a good tablespoon. A good fistful. A good amount of salt!

Adding salt raises the boiling temperature of the water. It doesn't make the water boil faster, like most people believe, but it does make the pasta cook faster because it allows the water to get hotter than 212˚ (boiling point). I learned this from Google as well. The reason I stress salting the water though is not to make the pasta cook faster, it's to season your pasta. This is the only way to actually season pasta because the salt won't really stick once the pasta is cooked...so why not just cook it in salt? Salt, yummmmm.

So. First: boil your water.

While your water is boiling, chop up 1 tomato, a couple sprigs of parsley, 2 garlic cloves, and slice a lemon in half.

Also, measure out 1 cup of white wine (or chicken stock, or beer) and 1 tablespoon of butter.

Set all that stuff aside--once your pasta is done cooking, drain it and set it aside as well.

Now, for the scallops:

The most important thing about pan-searing scallops is to make sure they're dry. So when you get them out of their package, put then on a plate with paper towel. Then flip them over, to dry the other side. Then, move them to a brand new dry paper towel. Then pat the top again. As they sit, their juices come to the surface, so make sure you pat them right before you put them in the pan. Oh, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Please excuse my nails. I had to remove my nail polish in a rush this morning before school. Grossss.

For the most perfect, golden brown, crunchy sear that you really want on these bad boys--make sure your pan is piping hot. Hot hot. Not burning hot, but hot. To test if its hot enough, get your finger wet and splash just a drop of water on it. If it sizzles, it's hot enough.

Drizzle a dab of oil in a hot hot large skillet, about a half dollar size. I used olive oil because it was handy, but you can use vegetable oil if you desire. I don't recommend butter because it burns faster than oil. You don't want to burn these suckers. Swirl the oil in the pan so it coats it. 

Lay the dry scallops in the pan with plenty of space in between them. You want them to have enough room to get a good sear. Here's a secret when you put them in: DON'T MOVE THEM! 

Leave them be. Let the scallops rest. Let them get nice and toasty brown. Let them get a delicious crust. Let them sit in peace for 2 whole minutes.  

After 2 minutes, flip them over. Let them cook again for another minute and a half--again, DON'T move them! Drizzle a little more oil in the pan and swirl it around after you flip them. 

After a minute and a half, remove the scallops from the pan and transfer to a new paper towel.
(Note, these cooking times are for large sea scallops, cooking times are different for smaller sea scallops.)

Next, reduce the heat in the pan to low and add a tablespoon of butter (unless you have a lot of oil remaining in the pan from the scallops.) Add the chopped garlic. 10 seconds later, add the diced tomato. After about a minute, turn the heat back to high and add the wine (or chicken stock, or beer).

When you add the wine, the pan should steam a whole lot and all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan will be released. Use your spoon to scrape up these brown bits as you stir around the wine. Add the chopped parsley.

About a minute later, add the cooked pasta to the pot and mix it well. Sprinkle with fresh squeeze lemon juice (half a lemon).

Serve in a bowl with the scallops. Garnish with parsley sprigs.

Yumyumyum. My first scallops experience was a success and it only took about 20 minutes. Paul LOVED it too, an added bonus!

The easy to follow recipe:

Scallops & Pasta from Steamykitchen

• 4 ounces, weight Dried Pasta Of Your Choice
• 10 Sea Scallops (or Jumbo Shrimp)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 2 clovea Garlic, Finely Diced
• 1 whole Tomato, Chopped
• 1 cup White Wine, Beer, Or Vegetable Stock
• 3 sprig Parsley, Finely Minced
• Just A Bit Of Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
• Salt And Pepper

1. Cook the pasta in salted water per the instructions on the box. Drain and set aside.

2. In the meantime, prep all the ingredients and have them at the ready nearby. For the scallops (or shrimp), use a couple of layers of paper towels and pat very dry. Move the scallops to a clean sheet of paper towel and pat dry once more. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

3. Heat a large frying pan or saute pan over high heat. When hot, swirl in the olive oil. Add the scallops to the pan, not touching. Give each scallop ample room so that they can sear properly. Cook for 2 minutes without touching (1 1/2 minutes if using smaller pieces of scallops or shrimp) then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes until cooked through. Remove to a plate.

4. Turn the heat to low. Add the butter and the garlic. Saute for just 10 seconds and then add the tomatoes.

5. Turn the heat to high and add in the white wine (or beer or vegetable stock). Let it bubble a bit for 30 seconds and use your spatula to scrape up the bits in the pan. Season with salt and pepper, throw in the parsley and then add in your cooked pasta. Stir well to let the sauce coat the pasta. Serve with the scallops.

Gotta go! I'm chatting with my Boo on Facebook chat....Well, umm...We're on the same couch too...

Enjoy :)