by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Favorite Recipes, Pastas
My family loves pasta! Any kind of pasta, but a good homemade pasta is hard to beat! Fortunately I was given the right set of pasta tools! Thanks to my mother-in-law that lives in Italy a majority of the time, and my somewhat Italian husband, I have a great set of pasta tools. First time around, it was a little labor intensive, but once I became more familiar with the Atlas Pasta maker, it became super easy. The ingredients are so straightforward: eggs and flour! That’s it!
Tools needed: Atlas Pasta Maker, kitchen scale (measuring grams), and a fork!
Measure out 100 grams of organic all-purpose flour per 1 egg. I used 400 grams of flour and 4 eggs for this batch.
First you measure the flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a crater in the center of the flour, and crack in the eggs. Slowly stir your fork into the center, slowly incorporating more flour from the edges, until the eggs are nicely mixed in. You can then transfer the mixture onto a floured surface, and kneed the dough, until eggs and flour are well incorporated. Next you divide the portions into fourths. Using your Atlas Pasta maker, on setting “zero” (which has the widest space), run the dough through the mixture. On the Atlas, the higher the number on the dial, the thinner the dough. If the dough is too moist it will stick to the surface of the rollers, so add some more flour. If the dough is too dry, it will pass through and crumble out, so add a big of water and kneed the dough again. I run the dough through several times, adjust the width, so that I end up at the fifth (5) setting for pasta, or seventh (7) setting for fettuccini.
Once you have 6 strips of thin pasta dough, you can now add on the spaghetti/fettuccini attachment, and run the dough through the spaghetti roller. I also purchased the Atlas Drying rack in order to hang the pasta, until you are ready to cook.
Meanwhile put a hit pot of water on to boil, and be sure to add enough salt, since the dough is not salted. Cook the pasta for approximately 4-5 minutes. I’m at altitude so it takes a bit longer to cook, so it might cook a bit quicker. Be sure to only cook it al dente.
Add your favorite spaghetti sauce and serve! Must be eaten immediately.
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Breakfast, Vegetables
I don’t think my sons realizes HOW good he has it. This morning, before being dropped off at high school (yes, he’s totally spoiled!), I made him an omelet! it wasn’t just an ordinary omelet… It was a truffle butter, goat cheese, arugula omelet with crispy onions. The big “foodie” LOVED it, so I am posting it here for you all to enjoy.
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- ½ tsp truffle oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp of truffle butter
- ¼ cup goat cheese crumbles
- ⅓ cup arugula
- 1 tbsp crispy onions
Directions:
Whisk eggs, heavy cream, salt and pepper in a small bowl. In a small non-stick pan, melt truffle butter on medium-low heat. Add in the eggs, and cover, cook until most of the eggs are cooked, can be a little runny on top. Add the goat cheese and arugula to one half of the eggs. Fold over and cook until eggs are cooked through and cheese is slightly melted. Place omelet on a plate add a few sprinkles of goat cheese and crispy onions and serve. Hopefully you will like this as much as my 16 year old!
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Meats, Sauces
This is probably one of the best Swedish Meatball recipes that I have ever tasted.. mainly because it comes from an authentic Swede… My mom! Who was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden! I sometimes make this recipe in large batches and store the mixture (prior to cooking) in the freezer. It’s a little time consuming but well worth it. The meatballs can be eaten with ketchup or you can go for gold… and make the cream sauce to go with it.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground beef (I prefer the 90% grass-fed)
- ½ lb. ground pork
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp milk
- ⅓ cup plain bread crumbs (unflavored)
- ½ cup pureed onion
- ⅓ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley (leafs only)
- 1 tsp salt to taste + 1 tsp for flour
- ½ cup flour
- butter (1 tbsp per batch of 20 meatballs)
Materials:
- Food processor with S-blade
- large plastic bag
- measuring cups
- Tsp and Tbsp
- 12″ Iron Skillet
- Small Sauce pan
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
- Mix the egg together with the milk, stir in breadcrumbs and let sit for 5 min.
- Place onion in food processor till pureed
- Stir the onions into the milk and breadcrumb mixture
- In a separate bowl, blend the two meats using hands or fork to mix
- Add the chopped parsley to the meats – mix well
- sprinkle in salt and mix well
- Add meats and onion/breadcrumb mixture together
- In a plastic bag, add ½ cup flour and 1 tsp of salt – shake well
- Make round balls of the meat mixture no bigger than 1 inch for each ball
- Place 10-14 meatballs in the bag with flour and gently turn bag to coat meatballs
- Remove each meatball by rolling in hand to remove any excess flour
- Place the coated meatballs a large platter
- Repeat above steps to complete entire batch of meat
- Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a 12″ iron skillet at medium high heat
- Add 14-16 meatballs at a time, making sure not to crowd the pan
- Roll the meatballs in the pan every minute so that they keep their round shape and don’t get burnt on one side
- Fry until cooked through and evenly browned
- Remove meatballs to a oven proof platter and scrape the drippings into a separate sauce pot
- Repeat about directions to cook each of the 14-16 meatballs
- with the last batch of meatballs – remove the meatballs and add in the reserved scrapings from saucepan
- Place meatballs into the oven while you make the sauce
Now for the Swedish Cream sauce!
Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup Crème Fraîche
- 16 oz beef stock
- 1 tbsp “Better than Beef Boullion” paste
- 1 tbsp flour
- ¼ cup beef stock
- drippings from saucepan
Combine the drippings from sauce pan back into the iron skillet and add the beef stock, and bouillon paste. Cook down for 5 mins stirring occasionally. Add in the Crème Fraîche stir until well incorporated. In a cup, add the flour and slowly stir in the ¼ cup beef stock to form a paste. Add the flour paste to the iron skillet and whisk constantly to make sure there are no clumps of flour. This will thicken the sauce. Cook for 3 more minutes. Remove the meatballs from the oven and pour the sauce over them. You can sprinkle with a little chopped parsley for decoration. You are now done and ready to enjoy my mom’s traditional Swedish Meatballs. (Goes well with traditional mashed potatoes).
