A Corny Tip

Corn on the cob is a delightful eating experience but let's face it, sometimes you just don't feel like getting all messy and having to pick corn from between your teeth for the rest of the evening can be so unbecoming. On those occasions and also if you need fresh corn kernels for a recipe, it is necessary to cut the kernels off the cob.

The Husband has grown some wonderful corn this year and in the past I have taken on the tedious, somewhat dangerous task of holding the cob of corn precariously perched on a cutting board and de-kerneling it. This usually results in corn flying all of the kitchen, not to mention nearly cutting off a finger or two.
Not to long ago while watching the Food Network I saw someone (sorry I can't remember which show) utilizing the following technique: Take the husked ear of corn and place the small end down into the center of a bundt pan and slice the kernels off. It is a superb technique. The ear is secure and the kernels go down directly into the pan, alleviating the flying corn throughout the kitchen problem. A neat, tidy procedure.

A Super Garage Sale Buy

Sometime in the last 18 years since I moved to Salem, I purchased an Italian Atlas hand crank pasta maker for the phenomenal price of $5.00. Currently they range in price from $40-$100 according to my Internet search today. At the time I made this bargain buy, I had never even attempted making homemade pasta. I bought it on an impulse and thought it was something I couldn't pass up. I have used it many times since.

I have made linguini, spaghetti and lasagna noodles but something I have never attempted is ravioli and today was the day for that culinary challenge. It was certainly time consuming but a very satisfying experience. I started by making the pasta dough which consisted of 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs processed in the food processor until it came together in a ball. It rested for a few minutes after kneading until smooth. I then made the filling. The filling consisted of 1 cup of ricotta cheese, 2 eggs, salt and pepper to taste, 2 tablespoons of tomato puree and 2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil thoroughly mixed together. Once the filling was done, I rolled out the pasta sheets and set them on flour covered towels. I then took one sheet, placed it on my flour covered granite counter, put a teaspoon of filling approximately 1 1/2 inches apart, painted the dough sides and in between the filling with water than placed a second sheet on top. I pushed around the filling gently with my fingers to get out any air bubbles then around the sides to seal the two pieces of dough together. I tried at first to cut the ravioli with a biscuit cutter but I found it cut too close to the filling so I opted to use a knife to trim around the excess dough and then cut each ravioli to the size of approximately 2 inches by 2 inches. These precious pillows were then placed on a flour covered towel on a cookie sheet where they rested in the refrigerator until time to cook. They cooked in gently simmering water for approximately 10 minutes.

To dress the ravioli I made a tomato alfredo sauce consisting of heavy cream gently boiled until it coated the back of a spoon, added a couple of tablespoons of butter, a tablespoon of tomato puree and approximately 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese.

My assessment of this dish was just so-so. The ravioli filling was rather bland and there was just too much dough around the filling. From now on I will leave the stuffed pasta making to the pros. The sauce was pretty good though. You can't go wrong with cream, butter and parmesan cheese, now can you?

Dos Salsas Verde

I'm currently learning Spanish via Rosetta Stone at work so I want to use it whenever possible, thus the title. Actually my two green sauces really have more to do with a discussion regarding my food processor. As pictured above it is obvious that this isn't one of your new fangled state of the art food processors.

Nope. This beast is at least 30 years old. I know this because my older sister received it for a wedding present, and if my memory serves me correctly, she was married in 1976. Sometime probably around 1980 she very graciously gave me her Hamilton Beach food processor as she had moved up in the world and bought herself a brand spanking new Cuisinart. Now mind you, beggars can't be choosers and I was tickled pink to have such a food wizard in my tiny Cassel Crag Apt. kitchen. I have been using it ever since, minus the grater attachment which I busted up real good once while trying to grate a particularly hard piece of Parmesan.

I have been recently thinking that I might owe myself a new food processor but after I used this steadfast kitchen workhorse this weekend for three different things, I have decided it still has many more productive spins left in it! I just have to continue grating cheese by hand (which I don't really mind).

This weekend I made blueberry scones and used my processor to do the tedious task of cutting the flour and butter together. I also made these two sauces: Pesto, which I mixed into nice, thin angel hair pasta for Saturday night dinner and Chimichurri, a sauce from Argentina which is used to accent grilled meats. We will dollop it on top of our grilled T-bone steaks for Sunday dinner.

Pesto

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1-2 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp. pine nuts (I used local walnuts I get from a co-worker and keep in the freezer)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 generous Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Put the cloves of garlic into the bowl of processor with steel blade attachment and run until garlic is minced. Add basil leaves and nuts and pulse until very finely chopped. Scrape down bowl. Run machine while slowly pouring olive oil through feed tube. Stop and scrape down bowl thoroughly a couple of times. By hand, fold in Parmesan cheese and seasonings to taste. Use immediately or refrigerate with plastic wrap over surface of sauce for 1-2 days or freeze.

Chimichurri Sauce
2 large garlic cloves
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup lightly packed fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
With food processor fitted with steel blade, combine garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and sugar and process until garlic is minced. Add the parsley and lemon juice and pulse until parsley is finely chopped. With machine running, pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until the sauce is well blended. Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meats or seafood.