Mangia! Mangia! Homemade Fresh Ricotta!

Dear Reader,

I've mentioned in past stories of dinner parties where I tried my hand at making homemade Ricotta. If you haven't tried making cheese at home, please do! And then tell me all about it because Ricotta is the only one I've made so far. I've heard that Mozzarella is also fairly easy to make, but the added ingredient of rennet always deters me (gotta find it, then go get it, you know, first world problems). One day I'll make Mozzarella, and lay freshly grown tomatoes and basil leaves on it from my organic garden, the garden that I hope will one day exist in my reality instead of just in my food fantasies. In the meantime, Ricotta will do because it's very very simple to make and is sure to wow any dinner party. I use the Ina Garten recipe, which only requires 4 simple ingredients. You can dress up the cheese however you like - my favorite is to use fresh herbs like dill, chives or even rosemary.

For my last dinner party I made this cheese plain and turned it into a delicious bruschetta with heirloom cherry tomatoes and reduced balsamic vinaigrette on top of a crusty baguette buttered to the nines. Simple, affordable, and made with a lot of love.

Homemade Ricotta - adapted from Ina Garten

Curds and Whey

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
4 cups of whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (white vinegar is fine)


Pour the milk and cream into a pot, preferably stainless steel or enameled and add the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat (so as not to burn the liquid) and stir occasionally. Once the liquids have come to a boil, add the vinegar and stir. Leave the liquid to stand for about 1-2 minutes. You will start to see the liquid curdle, eventually separating into two parts, the curds and the whey (yellowish liquid). During this time, take out a cheese cloth and put it over a sieve or a tall bowl to allow the water to drip down. Pour the liquid into the bowl and let it drain for about 30 minutes. The longer you allow it to drain, the thicker the cheese will be. Make sure the liquid does not touch the cheese cloth. Once you are done, transfer the ricotta into a bowl and discard everything else (unless you want to keep the whey - that's for another recipe). You can serve the cheese immediately or you can cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Mcgyver'd Cheese Drainer

I didn't have a cheese cloth and used a nut milk bag instead, it worked fine. And since I didn't have a sieve big enough I Macgyver'd my way into hanging my nut milk bag onto a wooden ladle, which then hung over a stock pot. I also ended up draining my cheese for about 2 hours which made for extra thick ricotta. Very yummy.

A (Pork) Shoulder to Lean On

Dear Reader,

This past week and half has sped by so quickly. The holiday season is now over and I feel as if I never really got in the spirit, and now, it's too late. Our Christmas tree has been taken down, ornaments put away, and all of the holiday festivities are over. I always get a little blue from January - April, since these are the hibernating months in NYC. When winter really sets in and snow storms pass through overnight. When it's so cold that going out for a quick walk is just out of the question. The good news is that these are the perfect months for hearty stews and meats, roasted vegetables and even more dinner parties since going from house to house sounds so much nicer than going from venue to venue in the bitter cold.

Braised Pork Shoulder Goodness

Today, E and I decided to have a lazy day (these come all too often) and stay in instead of running much needed errands. We put on two pots of coffee, watched Sons of Anarchy and snuggled. Since we were staying in all day I decided to braise some pork shoulder in the oven, as inspired by a friend of mine when we visited her house. I've been trying to think of more dishes that could be made in bulk and saved for lunches and leftovers and affordable protein is always a plus. Pork shoulder (also known as pork butt) is relatively cheap at about $1.50-$2.00 per pound. For a healthier option, you can purchase pork shoulder raised without antibiotics for about $4.00-$4.99 per pound and still make a large amount without breaking the bank.

Braised pork shoulder is great because the actual prep time is very minimal, it's cheap, it can last for a long time, it's versatile and it's very difficult to mess up. I researched a few recipes and ended up making my own, but really, almost anything goes. This recipe is meant to be a guide, feel free to substitute with whatever you think will work. The Kitchn has a great post on the different ways to cook and use pork shoulder.

Homemade Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

Dear Reader,

A few days ago E turned to me and said, "I feel like I'm coming down with something." These words cause a million alarms to go off in my head because E is quite often sick and very very often tired (which leads to him be sick, etc.). Our remedy is to usually take a food based multi vitamin, probiotics, cod liver oil, and vitamin C. Oftentimes this does the trick but if we catch it too late we load him up with a cup of nice hot tea. Ginger, with its natural healing properties and the boost it gives to your immune system is key, but you need to take it fresh, raw and in large quantities. Here is my homemade recipe. I usually fill a mason jar and keep it in the fridge and it stays fresh for at least 3 weeks!

Honey Lemon Ginger Tea
Makes about 1 quart 

Ingredients

1 cup of grated or sliced ginger (about 5-6 medium sized ginger pieces)

3 lemons

8 ounces of honey (I usually end up using 12 ounces)

Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

Scrape off the skin of the ginger using a peeler or the back of a spoon. Once all the skin is off rinse the ginger to clean off any bits that may still be attached. You can thinly slice the ginger or you can put them into a food processor and purée.  I grated mine because I like to get it really small so that it's easier to consume and all the nice juices come out into the tea. Put into a bowl. Next, clean your lemons and zest the skin of two lemons into the ginger. Slice the lemon pieces and cut into quarters and add to the ginger. Then add the honey. Mix well and pour into a bottle (air tight if possible). You can drink some right away but it will get more potent when you let it marinate. After the tea has been in the jar for a day or two, the ginger taste will be noticeably spicier, but don't fear because that's the good stuff! Feel free to eat the ginger as well, the more the better. Turmeric is another great addition with some amazing healing properties. I haven't tried it yet, but hope to for my next round. Stay healthy this winter!

Quick Homemade Dinner - Thai Curry Night

Dear Reader,

Tonight was one of those nights that was so similar to every other weeknight. I got into my car and raced home, starving, stomach eating into itself and I was angry at the world for putting so many obstacles in between me and my next meal. This is what hangry looks like. Hungry + Angry = Hangry. That's me at 6:00 p.m. The stomach rumbles usually start rolling in at around 4:00 p.m. where I then reach into my stash of Trader Joe's trail mix. By the time I'm on the road I've become an entirely different being. This. is. serious.

Nights like these mandate meals that are quick and easy to prepare, yet are still healthy, delicious and filling (for the very hungry man that lives with me). One such meal is my version of Red Thai Curry, a dish that is seemingly complex but is actually quite simple. Prep time is about 20 minutes (give or take) and ingredients can all be found at your local grocery store. Except for one ingredient, fish sauce, that is usually found in any Asian market.

Red Thai Curry
Makes enough for 3-4 bowls

Ingredients

1 14 oz. can of coconut milk (I use light coconut milk - you can use regular)
1 tablespoon of oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 cup of broth (chicken, beef or vegetable. If you don't have broth, you can use water instead)
2 tablespoons of red curry paste (you might want to add more curry paste as you taste test)
2 tablespoons of fish sauce (you might want to add more fish sauce as you taste test)
2 chicken breasts, diced
Mixed vegetables (I like to use broccoli, squash and carrots, but you can substitute with whatever you like)

Start by opening the can of coconut milk and setting it aside. You will need to reach for this quickly in the early stages, you'll see. In a saucepan, pour in the the oil and wait until it gets hot on medium heat. Then add the minced garlic, stirring until aromatic. Add the red curry paste, stirring quickly until the paste begins to loosen and spread. Careful, the oil with the paste will start "popping" and you may get hot paste shooting out at you! I like to mix for a few seconds, then quickly pour in the can of coconut milk, the broth, fish sauce and bay leaves and close the lid. If you haven't diced the chicken yet, you can do so while the liquid goodness continues to heat. Once the chicken is diced, add it to the liquid and simmer. After about 6-8 minutes, add in the vegetables and continue to simmer. Squash tends to cook quickly and gets mushy, so if you want to put it in a minute after the harder vegetables, do so, however, I tend to just put everything in at once.

Thai Coconut Milk Curry

So much of this recipe depends on your preference for the curry flavor. Taste test after the chicken has been cooking for at least 8 minutes. I usually end up putting a bit more curry (1/2 tbsp) and sometimes a bit more fish sauce. Once the veggies are soft, turn off the heat. Pour over a bowl of brown rice (or white, up to you), mix, and eat. Bon appetite!

There are a lot of versions of this recipe out there and I have tried a few. But in my opinion, a lot of the additional fuss doesn't make a huge difference for me, especially if I want this to be an easy go-to meal during a weeknight (and during my hangry moments). You can substitute tofu for the chicken. I take this opportunity to pack on the vegetables and like to include snow peas, cauliflower, etc. since this is one of the ways I can trick E to eating more veggies, and since he is also eating the broth a lot of the nutrients are still being consumed. Basil, lime basil, bamboo shoots, bell peppers and potatoes are also some additional flavors and veggies commonly included.

Kale Chips, anybody?

ately, all I hear about is kale chips this and kale chips that. Even my sister has jumped on this bandwagon and baked her own rendition of veggie chips, using brussel sprouts. Yum. I was at the farmers' market in park slope and saw a fresh bunch of kale for sale and thought I'd give this a go.

After a thorough rinsing, I dried them off, hand tore the leaves and spread them across an oven tray.

Drizzled some olive oil and kosher salt, put them in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 and voila! Definitely a tasty way to eat kale, and a great snack while "vegging" out in front of the tube.

Boeuf Bourguignon

esterday I got an email from Sarah Kate from the Kitchn (no, not a typo) with a recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon. I love Boeuf Bourguignon and anything in its family, such as beef stew, beef stroganoff...beef in general... This recipe looks fantastic but with some maintenance involved if you truly want to make "beef" into "boeuf"! Quoted from the entry:

" The two techniques for Boeuf Bourguignon . . . One method, and arguably the more popular, involves browning the beef, then adding the vegetables and wine then adding a beurre manié (mixture of soft butter and flour) to the mix . . . The other method . . . is much easier. Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec, who wrote about food for Elle back in the 1960s, called this the "true" recipe. It's also how Julia Child makes her daube de boeuf in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking. You simply build the dish by layering the ingredients, much like a trifle, in a large casserole or Dutch oven, finishing with a bacon topper and some wine and brandy, and cooking stove-top for a couple hours. Aside from its easy preparation, the big difference is that this method produces a very pale brothy sauce versus the thick, winey sauce in the traditional version."

I'm going to have to store this one for later use!


{via The Kitchn}

Daydreaming about Cooking Chinese Steamed Spareribs

t's been a bit since I last posted. Things over at this end of the screen have not been so pleasant as of late, and work and I have become inseparable. We need space. Desperately. So far I've had little luck getting this so-called space and work has latched on to me like a bad rash.

Lately, I have been eating bad food, sleeping very little, having bouts of overwhelming anger, and drinking lots of coffee. Oh and did I mention that I have not been exercising? I feel all of this "badness" adding up inside of me and wanting a burst of....detox or something. I also have a tendency to daydream ALL the time and one of the many things I daydream about when I'm busy at work is of cooking different dishes. One of the dishes I randomly crave is Chinese Steamed Spareribs. In a word, yum. A friend of mine from law school generously gave me a tupperware full of her dad's homemade spareribs while we were studying for the bar...and it was just so delicious and I want more!

Instead of waiting for Mr. Cheng to send me over another batch, I think I'll give it a go on my own. I'll let you know how it turns out!


{Photo Courtesy of Steamy Kitchen}
{Recipe available at Steamy Kitchen as well!}

Vanilla Bean Caramels with Fleur de Sel

ver the weekend I decided to try my hand at making some caramels from a great recipe I found on My Baking Addiction for Vanilla Bean Caramels with Fleur de Sel. This was an easy recipe to follow, but my first attempt was a bust since I did not use a candy thermometer and went on sight alone. Not a good idea. I undercooked the caramel and they never hardened. Back into the pot they went, this time with a candy thermometer on hand, and harden they did, while still staying flexible. I cut some wax paper squares, wrapped them and sent a batch to one of my favorite families, the Monserrat's in SF. I also handed some out to co-workers and they were a hit!

P.S. You don't absolutely have to use a thermometer, but I would highly recommend it.


{Photo courtesy of My Baking Addiction}

For recipe, please click here.

What's For Dinner Tonight? Baked Chicken Over Grilled Veggies

hicken is one of my favorite sources of protein and I'm always interested in easy, creative and yummy chicken recipes to try. This one was suggested to me by the Boyfriend's sister-in-law while we were visiting Vancouver this winter. Thanks Christine!

First, I seasoned the chicken breasts with a bit of freshly ground pepper, sea salt, and a little bit of paprika. Then, I browned them on both sides on my cast iron skillet and placed them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees (flipped it at the halfway mark). Once the chicken was done, I moved them to a separate plate and placed my sliced eggplants, squash (in place of zucchini) and bell peppers into the cast iron at medium to high heat.

With a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, I left them alone for about 7 minutes (flipping occasionally). Once they were done, I stacked the grilled veggies and the chicken on top of each other and sprinkled some freshly grated white cheddar cheese. This dish was a hit! The Boyfriend absolutely loved it!

What's For Dinner Tonight? Steak Night!

y wonderful Boyfriend decided that Saturday night would be steak night, prepared lovingly with his hands alone. I love these nights when he puts on his imaginary chef's hat, rolls up his sleeves, and gets in his cooking groove. We were doing a little bit of shopping in soho and headed to Dean and Deluca to pick up some steaks. It's quite expensive there but we were in the mood to splurge a little and grabbed some filets.

Please excuse my photos. Per usual, the pictures were taken in the evening with not the best lighting. I can promise you, the meal was scrumptious!

First, he seasoned the pieces with freshly ground sea salt and pepper. He later sprinkled a bit of olive oil over each and browned them in the cast iron skillet. After 2 minutes in the oven on each side, he placed a dab of butter and let them rest on teacup saucers, which were flipped upside down.

And voila! Coupled with a great bottle of red wine recommended by our wine specialist, we enjoyed a wonderful meal together.


Thanks babe. Once again, you remind me of how lucky I am to have a guy like you.

Homemade Focaccia + Roasted Red Peppers and Arugula Sandwiches

haven't actually tried making this yet, but I keep coming back to the same recipe and image. I love this picture, don't you? It's from one of my favorite food sites, Alexandra's Kitchen. She posts the best recipes and the most vibrant and vivid photos, so good it's enough to make your mouth water.

My dad used to make us focaccia bread on a regular basis. Mainly because he owned a restaurant and was always trying new recipes. So the first time I tasted focaccia it was his, and when I asked him what it was I thought he was just being silly. Focaccia? That just sounds funny to a 6 year old.

You can find the recipe for this here.

What's for Dinner Tonight? One-Pot Chicken with Sausage and Potatoes

ortunately, I am the accidental (but very grateful) receiver of Everday Food Magazine, a great little subscription that comes my way and is filled with simple recipes for, well, everyday food! The previous tenant of the Boyfriend's apartment (his cousin, one of my most favorite persons in the world) was the original and intended subscriber, but since her move to the bay area, she's been unable to have them forward the magazine to her new address! Hey, I'm not complaining...although I do feel bad.
I usually sit through a stack of them and tab the recipes I want to try. Last night was the One-Pot Chicken with Sausage and Potatoes, a very simple and really yummy recipe from this month's issue.

{Ingredients}
2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a pound of sweet italian sausage, casings removed, broken into 3/4 inches (I used turkey italian sausage)
2 bone in chicken breast halves (which comes out to 4 pieces, each breast is sliced in half)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 yellow onion, diced medium
1 pound of waxy potatoes, halved or quartered if large (I used finger potates and cut them into quarters)
3 stalks of celery, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of fresh oregano

{Directions}
In a large pot, heat oil over medium high. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally until brown all over (about 4 minutes). Transfer the sausage to another dish (it won't be fully cooked, but don't worry!) Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and add to the pan, meaty side down. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes, flipping it once. Transfer the chicken to the sausage dish.

Add onions, potatoes, and celery to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft (3-5 minutes). Return sausage and chicken, meaty side up, to pot and add 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through (about 20 minutes, but I gave it until 30).

Remove lid and increase heat to high. Boil until the liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup (5 minutes). Transfer chicken to a platter. Add vinegar and oregano to the vegetables and sausage and stir to combine. Transfer this all to a platter with chicken. Transfer sauce to a gravy boat and serve alongside the chicken. Voila! A really simple and very delicious meal.

I spent about $10 for this whole dish and improvised here and there. But it was really simple and the Boyfriend loved it!

Dinner for the Week

hile the Boyfriend gears up to watch his Sunday football game, I've been going through some recipe books and magazines, looking for dishes to cook for dinner throughout the week. Unfortunately, both him and I work very demanding jobs with very very long hours. For me, most of my time during the week (and sometimes during the weekend) is unpredictable. His aren't as fickle, but that just means we know his days are all going to be long. If I get out of work too late, I don't join him for dinner. But I know him and I'm pretty sure that Papa John's Pizza will come a knockin' 4-5 times a week if there wasn't anything ready-made/easily-made in the fridge. I don't blame him...by the time he gets in it's so late that he's absolutely famished and beat from the day. So this week, I'm going with 3 main dishes; 1) a pasta dish, something hearty and meaty, but fairly simple. Maybe a concoction of kelbasa sausage, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers and tomatoes, cheese, and pineapples. The pineapples provides a nice and sweet surprise to such a salty mix! 2) a casserole. I love tuna noodle casserole, but he is not a fan of tuna. I may make it anyway one day, but for this week I've decided to try my hand at macaroni and cheese. I never make this dish because I think it's pretty difficult to make. I've tasted many homemade macaronis and honestly, I haven't tasted any that I really like. But I'm going to give Emeril's recipe a go. 3) one pot chicken with sausage, potatoes, and veggies. I know, it's all meat and carbs. But hey, he's a guy, he likes his meat and potatoes.

Next, I was thinking of making lemon bars. I've made them once before, and I've posted about it before. But just as a repeat, here yago:

This is a picture of my first attempt. We'll see how the second one goes.

For the recipe, click on Smitten Kitchen.

Recipe Cards

f course, I'm distracting myself while I'm supposed to be researching cases. Of course. But I wanted to post about something I'm very excited about and wish I owned a quality color printer so that I could print for myself! I found these beautiful free recipe cards on How About Orange. I am a bridesmaid for one of my dearest friends who is getting married in October, and one of the bridesmaids' gifts for her bridal shower was a recipe box with each guest's favorite recipe written down. We used a different template, but I love this one and wish we found it in time for her shower! Please click here for the download at Tie that Binds blog.

Homemade Pizza--The Healthy Version

inner last week was Homemade Pizza Day, the first of many Homemade Pizza Days to come, and I decided to go a healthier route and bake a whole wheat crust. Let's just say....I won't make THAT mistake again! Maybe when I have kids and I want them to believe that whole wheat is the only type of carbohydrate that exists, but until then...whole wheat pizza is not really for me. I love whole wheat bread and most whole wheat foods but there are a couple of things that I can't seem to budge on. Such as cookies, pasta, and now pizza dough. I think the farthest I'll go (and probably will do the next time I make pizza dough) is mix half white and half wheat flours. I used a recipe from All Recipes.com.
I started off with my ingredients: 1 pack (.25 ounce) of active, dry yeast, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 cup of warm water (110 degrees), 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp olive oil, and 2 tsp white sugar. I dissolved the yeast in the warm water and let it stand until creamy (about 10 minutes). I have to apologize in advance for my photos, it was a dark night.

Next, I combined all the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and stirred until I created a well mixed and stiff dough (no dry spots).



I covered the dough with a wet paper towel and left it alone for about 30 minutes (should double in size). During this time I preheated my oven to 350 degrees.



While waiting for the dough to rise I went to work on the topping. I was going to make an arugula topped pizza but I had a lot of random things in the fridge to use up before they went bad. A block of bleu cheese from Thanksgiving, shredded chicken from a roasted chicken, mushrooms, onions, and cherry tomatoes. Oh and the arugula. I knew each of these things had only about 2 days left in them and I hated to see them at the bottom of my trash can. So I made a bleu-cheese-chicken-mushroom-and-tomato-pizza-with-carmelized-onion.....pizza.
I chopped thin rings out of the onions and thin slices of mushrooms and carmelized. Then I sliced the cherry tomatoes in half. Once the dough was ready I rolled it out into a rectangular shape to fit my baking sheet. I laid out a pizza sauce I bought at Trader Joe's for $1.60, topped it with bleu cheese and added the rest of my mix. Into the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and voila! Pizza! (not the greatest photo, I know, but I was really hungry by then). I also ended up using only half the dough for my pie and froze the rest.



The great thing about this recipe is that it's really easy, requires minimal ingredients, and the dough does not need to be refrigerated overnight. This doesn't make the best dough in town but it definitely does the job. Next time I think I'll leave it in the oven for a little longer to get a crispier center! It's a great dish to pour your leftovers on and it's also a creative way for kids to get involved in what they're eating. You can pre-make the dough and store in the fridge for emergency use. Bon appetit!

Book and Blogger

ookbook author and chef Molly Wizenberg is also a blogger! I know, some of you may be thinking...wha?? I've been reading her cookbook a little bit at a time whenever I'm stopping over at Barnes and now I've discovered her blog! Completely unintentionally too which makes for a double celebration of coincidences. I love coincidences, I thrive on them. It makes me feel connected with the world and my surroundings. As if things were meant to be. Anyway, her book is very readable as it tells a lot of stories that go along with her recipes. Exactly the type of cookbook I enjoy and hope to one day create. Check her out!

Recipes of the Week!

ust when I thought I was finally catching up with my life I take a look at the calendar and see that there is only one week until Thanksgiving! I can't believe it, time sure flew by! November has been quite a busy month for me. I volunteer 2 days a week for a couple of hours at a non profit organization in Brooklyn and I tutor a 7th grader in New Jersey. The commute alone is very long and eats up a large chunk of my days. Plus, the boyfriend and I have had 3 groups of visitors within a month (2 back to back for a total of 10 days) and we also went to Puerto Rico less than a month ago! Whew!
One of the ways I regroup is by cooking. I won't have a chance to do any of that until this weekend but I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes. I want to try a new pumpkin bread recipe, the Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread, and stock up on some jars of my own marinara. This time, I'm going to take a stab at incorporating this recipe with my own.
But til then, take a look at Heart of Light's post on making your own pasta. It sounds so amazing!

{Photograph from Heart of Light}

Cream-less Carbonara

reetings all, it's been quite a while since my last post! This week has been quite an eventful week and it feels like I haven't had a second to stop! But here I am, back and ready to post about my most recent conquest.
I wanted to try something new but relatively simple and healthy. I was up late one night and Oprah had an episode about her favorite recipes and Tom Cruise's Carbonara was a huge hit! Who knew, Tom and cooking? But all that cream makes for a really high calorie meal. The solution came to me during my search and voila! Cream-less Carbonara from recipezaar.
I generally improvise when following a recipe based upon what I have in the kitchen and what I want to use up before it goes to waste. I also added broccoli just because I had bought a bunch the night before. The bacon is an applewood smoked bacon, fresh from the butcher. The cheese is Monte Veronese, unpasteurized and made from cow's milk in Italy. It's got a firmness to it but not nearly as hard or dry as Parmesan. In fact, it's quite creamy.
The result:
This isn't the greatest picture but I was so hungry that I wanted to dig in as soon as possible! Some changes I would make: I only used 2 slices of bacon, I would recommend at least 4-5. Also I would grate a lot more cheese for more flavor. I found this dish to be a little on the dry side, but with some of the pasta juices and the wine, it should be fine.

Recipe is as follows:
Ingredients: {serves 3}
* salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
* 1 lb pasta, spaghetti
* 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 1/4 lb pancetta, chopped
* 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 5-6 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 2 large egg yolks
* freshly grated romano cheese

Instructions:
First, put a large saucepot of water to boil. Once boiling, add a liberal amount of salt and pasta. Cook to al dente, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and pancetta. Brown pancetta about 2 minutes.
Then add red pepper flakes and garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add wine and stir up all pan drippings.
In separate bowl, beat yolks, then add 1 large ladleful (about 1/2 cup)of the pasta cooking water. This tempers the eggs and keeps them from scrambling when added to pasta.Drain pasta well and add directly to skillet with pancetta, garlic and oil. Pour egg mixture over pasta. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg.Remove from heat and add a big handful of cheese, lots of pepper and a little salt. Continue to toss and turn pasta until soaks up egg mixture and thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with extra Romano.

Cooking School

Today, I'm off to cooking school. Martha Stewart's Cooking School, that is! I had recently saw a clip on Martha's most recent release and just had to get it! I was torn between that and Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But Martha's book is more modern, instructional (teaches you how to properly carve a turkey!) and provides general recipes and guidance for everyday classics.

I can't wait to read it! I love going through cook books and one day dream of making my own. Til then, I am just collecting recipes and stories in my little recipe book, aka spiral binder.

I'll let you all know how it goes!