Fresh Pasta...is heavenly!

Our weekly pilgrimage to the farmer's market is like sending a child into a chocolate factory! This past week I noticed the fresh pasta stand and asked about the pasta.... SIX DOLLARS A POUND! Are you out of your mind? That is not to say fresh pasta isn't worth the price but the mark up is unbelievable. Here is the cost of the materials to make fresh pasta

10 oz of flour = $1.75/(5x16)=.02 x 10= .22 cents

2 eggs = .22 cents

1 tbs Olive Oil = .01 cent

3 tbs water = is like a .0001 cent so lets call round it up to a penny

1 tsp salt = .01 cent

Total cost of materials $0.47 (This recipe will yield approx. 15.5-16 oz of pasta dough.)

You'll have to figure your own labor costs. With the Kitchen Aid it takes (me) about 20 minutes to roll and cut the pasta.

My Kitchen Aid has three attachments: an adjustable roller, a cutter for fettuccine and a cutter for spaghetti. I roll my fettuccine until the adjustable roller is set to 6; spaghetti is rolled to 5.

The pasta making is the easy side of creating a pasta dinner. The hard part is making the sauce; ragu needs time to fully develop its flavors. Plan on making the sauce before starting your fresh pasta.

Here's what to do..

Put a large pot of water on to boil; by the time the pasta is ready to cook, the water will be boiling. (Adapted from Good Eats 2 by Alton Brown) Whisk wet ingredients with salt and pour into the center of the flour. Gently mix until all the flour is mixed. DO NOT KNEAD the pasta! Divide the dough in half and roll the pasta to desired thickness. Then, cut and toss into boiling water. The pasta will ready in about 2 minutes. Drain pasta and mix with sauce of your choice.

#cook90 day one...breakfast

A few weeks ago a Food & Wine article on how to poach eggs inspired me to cook eggs for day one of #cook90. My goals were something quick, easy and tasty breakfast in the new year. My solution was poached eggs with blanched escarole. Prep and cook time 12 minutes... the results are below.

Holiday Lemon Squares (Lemon Love Notes)

I remember these as a Christmas treat my grandmother would make, and every year when my wife asks what kind of cookies I want, I say Lemon Squares. She usually says... you're supposed to make those in February and they are called 'Lemon Love Notes'. Its a good thing I'm flexible and happy to eat them in February too. The recipe for these can be found in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman . Her recipes are reliable and she takes better pictures. Check out her book for the details.

Key Lime Pie...

Key Lime Pie To market, to market to buy... how does the nursery rhyme go? I think of this rhyme often when I head to Wegman's for my weekly shopping trip. Almost always I shop with a list to stay within our grocery budget. This week as I walked through the fruit and vegetable stacks, I saw packages of key limes. I can't remember ever eating key lime pie and I had never made a key lime pie, but there they were right in front of me! An opportunity waiting to be zested, juiced, and made into something (hopefully) delicious! Upon arriving home, I looked up several recipes ( epicurious and Gourmet ). Some topped with meringue, some with whipped cream.. but they didn't ring true with what I imagined key lime pie to be. So, I checked with my neighbors who spent their vacations on tropical islands and talked of key lime pie with knowing appreciation. They indicated that meringue or any other type of topping had no place on a key lime pie. I decided on the almond graham...

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