black dog :: food blog

Homemade pasta night

My chef friend, John Fernadez is an amazing chef who is classically trained in Italy. The other night, we had our friends over at our place for a ‘Pasta night’. We made three different pastas and tiramisu….Seriously I have never had pasta like that in my life. It literally melts in your mouth! Emily (my dear friend & fellow food blogger) and I, Chef John, his friend Niki and Susan(Pastry instructor at my culinary school-my favorite class) working in the kitchen and Susan’s boyfriend, fong and my husband hovering in the background…what an amazing time and food we had!!!

I don’t have exact recipes for these dishes since they belong to chef John…and we didn’t quite measure things-we like to eyeball the ingredients. We added everything…..you know…till it makes sense. I will briefly explain how we made them at the end of this post…so you can add everything….you know….till it makes sense to you…:)

You know one good thing about hosting a party at your place? You get to keep the left overs!  Yes, I had left over Tiramisu for lunch for next 3 days….:By the way, I microwaved pasta carbonara :::: Do not do that!! If you try to microwave it like myself to warm it up, you will end up having scrambled eggs. Warm it on a very very low heat slowly…but it’s always better eat it as soon as you make it. Many many thanks to John and all my friends for helping and eating! Good times!!!!

Chef John cracking eggs for Tiramisu

ready to make the dough

ready to make the dough

work those biceps!

taking notes....

 

Course #1: Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sage sauce

Course #2: Pasta bolognese

Course #3: Pasta carbonara

Classic Tiramisu

Finishing the night with a glass of port....

Ok, I’m going to trace back my memory and briefly explain how we made all these. Sorry for not having exact recipes…hope this makes sense to you…:)  You can do it. Don’t be afraid. Just trust your instinct and hungry stomach.

Pasta: 2 cups Four, 3  egg yolks (Make sure you use dark yolk eggs-Trader Joes has them), Make a well in center of the flour, drop in eggs, slowly incorporate flour into eggs with a fork.  Knead the dough till it becomes smooth, run it through pasta machine. (till Pretty thin. #6~8)
Brown butter sage sauce: Melt butter and cook till brown – Add sage leaves then take it off of the heat (make sure sage leaves don’t burn)
Pumpkin filling: Cooked pumpkin(or pumpkin puree), ricotta cheese, salt & salt. (You can add crushed italian cookies, like amaretti) 
Carbonara: Small dice pancetta and onions, saute till brown and crispy – Add garlic – Add cooked pasta – Off the heat – Add beaten eggs and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Bolognese: Ridiculously small tiny dice on onion, salary, carrot (You can pulse them in a food processor if you want) – Saute till all the water evaporates. (Be patient, this is where big flavors develop) – Add ground beef and cook till brown – Add tomato paste cook till brown – Add wine and cook till wine has reduced by half – Add stock or water and reduce. – Add bay leaf and thyme bundle – Add more liquid and reduce more.
Tiramisu: Layer of mascarpone mixture (water and sugar-cook till soft ball stage, whip egg yolk , gradually add sugar mixture to whipped egg, whip till it become cool enough, add whipped cream)
Layer of lady fingers or sponge cake – Pour strongly brewed coffee – Another layer of mascarpone mixture – another layer of lady fingers – Last layer of mascarpone mixture – Top with shaved chocolate.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. I should be tired of cooking after having that responsibility for 100 years,,,,but when I see a blog such as yours, with your enthusiasm and passion for cooking, I get all riled up too! Thanks for souping up my cooking engines! Bring on the pasta!

    Ronnie

    Reply

  5. So hungry now. Beautiful pictures. I wonder if I can make pasta without a pasta machine. My mom used to do it when I was a kid…make her own pasta, slice it into wide noodles, hang over chair backs to dry, then cook it, fry it a little in butter with some onions, and then add thick cream just until the noodles soaked it up. That’s it — I’m inspired….

    Reply

  19. Hi Christina.

    A great post with photos and recipes. Glad you and your friends love to cook and
    eat Italian food.

    Keep enjoying your cooking and sharing on your blog.

    I will mention this on my wordpress blog and on twitter. I have followers that love Italian food and wine.

    Tony.

    Reply

  22. Amazing looking! How is the kitchen-aid pasta attachment? I recently got an old hand-crank pasta machine and love it, but it is quite a bit of work. Wondering if the kitchen-aid attachment would be a worthy upgrade..

    Reply

  25. LOVE this idea! You can’t go wrong with homemade pasta, wine and tiramisu! Do you find that making the pasta from scratch saves you any money? It seems like a lot of work but may just be worth it (not to mention what a fun experience!).
    K

    Reply

    • I think so. Dried pastas are so expensive now. All those organic, gluten free, whole wheat….and all. I do like DeBoles pasta. But they are $$$! I just used regular all purpose flour (no special semolina flour) and we always have flour and eggs in stock, right? So yes, $ saving for sure!!!

      Reply

  28. Delicious!! And beautiful photos as well. I’ve done the homemade tiramisu before and it always turns out better than any that I’ve ordered at a restaurant. Now the homemade pasta – that will be an interesting thing to try 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply

  29. mmmmmmmm…. I too have recently become enamored with homemade pasta.. its soo good, and fun to make! I just can’t eat store bought anymore! Thanks for sharing your experiences, they look yummy!

    Reply

  31. My hubby is Italian so I can totally relate! And our daughter is a great cook(Italian & French specialties and pastry wonder maker! Your photos are great! Enjoyed this post!

    Reply

  37. Oh wow, this looks amazing! I’m a huge pasta lover, and would love to make my own pasta, it would make it so much more satisfying! Thank you for sharing this, and making my mouth water… It’s making me dream of Italian holidays…

    Reply

  41. Very sumptuous! These will be a sure hit for the hungry stomachs! Whoah! I should schedule a pasta party soon! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  42. Lovely photos to illustrate your journey to what looks like an amazing meal! I’ve been enjoying my husband’s homemade pasta for years. There’s no turning back…

    Reply

  43. Wow, what a fantastic meal! I’ve made the tiramisu before but had troubles with the pasta. Didn’t use the right flour and had sticky pasta. Will try this method next time of making it on the table, looks like a better method. Now I’m hungry. Thanks so much for sharing these great pictures, I can almost smell it cooking!

    Reply

  44. I’ve tried making fresh pasta and seriously, it changes everything! but since i still don’t have a pasta machine, i still use a rolling pin. but by december, my cousin will be sending me a machine! exciting times!

    Reply

    • this was the comment i was hoping for! i’m also without a pasta machine (and, living in thailand with little hope of obtaining one), but oh-so-inspired by this post. have you had good results with your rolling pin? any tips or tricks?

      Reply

  49. This is a great post! My boyfriend and I are always trying to make new dinners (in the rare occasion there is actually time to) I never thought to make your own pasta. This is really great! Definitely something I’m suggesting to him that we try. Thanks!

    Reply

  51. The only time I made pasta was when I was seven and got one of those kiddie pasta machines for a birthday present. It was such a disaster (and tasted terrible) that I’ve never tried again, but this post has inspired me. Looks so yummy!

    Reply

  53. Love Pasta very much. I need more this kind of recipe. Please post more like this. I always try new type of food. This morning I made Horiana Tea. It is one kind of tea. This tea is very testy to me.

    Reply

  59. You can’t beat it can you! once learned how to, I’m surprised people go back to buying dried other than when short on time. Your recipes, pictures and the menu looks delicious. My favourite is crab ravioli’s with a sage butter sauce, not unlike yours. Whilst on honeymoon in Lake Garda, we realised how much of an artform Pasta is in Italy, and how we were doing it wrong here in the UK; too many heavy sauces, portions that are too large. Wonderful stuff.

    Reply

  65. As Italian having spent some years in the States I know how sometime the Italian recepies are “updated” with Amarican taste. I’ve really appreciated (looking at the pictures) yours effort and the results look very good. Just a little comment about the “Carbonara”: please don’t use “pasta fresca” (homemade pasta), and use instead “bucatini”, then avoid garlic and onion. For a best result, instead of use all eggs replace some with only yolks.
    Buon appetito

    Reply

  67. This reminds me of the stuff they make on food network :D, that’s how we’ll done it is. I didn’t know you could make dough out of eggs and flour. Is that the only thing you can use the dough for?

    Reply

  70. Sorry people… the real italian homemade pasta doesn’t want a “pasta-machine”! You MUST use a rolling pin (“mattarello” in italian)… 😉
    Greetings from Italy.

    Reply

  72. Goodness me, the very first photo made my mouth water! And to think I just had pasta (the dry mass produced ones)! Simply amazing and yummmm! =D

    Reply

  74. There is nothing more satisfying than making your own pasta. Yours looks far more delicate than mine, but I agree the taste just knocks the socks off dried pasta. What a fun evening.

    Reply

  75. Italian fare is my weakness. These dishes looked amazing and delicious! Inspired me to cook pasta this weekend! I’ve never made it fresh, though. Something I’m going to have to do, I think.

    Kat

    Reply

  79. Have made ravioli on several occasions but don’t have the enthu or courage to make pasta. Besides we don’t have machines for them here. Just ate pasta tonight and decided to add the broccoli that was beginning to get a bit yellow to use it up. Not a good idea for it was so overpowering.

    Reply

  84. Oh my goodness! Talk about a mouth watering post! I’m not a big pasta eater (as in I don’t incorporate pasta in my daily meal choices), but I definitely want to give this a try. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply

  91. I need to go and eat a sub-par breakfast now thanks to these delicious, delicious photos. But seriously. That. Looked. Phenomenal. I tried to make homemade pasta once when I had just moved into an apartment in college. Mine neither looked like nor tasted like what I expect those to taste like….

    Reply

  97. Who isn’t up for a good pasta especially home made. I’m not sure I could be bothered making it myself from scratcch. I just don’t have that kind of dedication:)

    Reply

  98. This is evidence that pasta should be a main food group. Thanks for sharing the recipe along with the stunning pictures. And I completely agree with the trusting your gut idea when it comes to cooking. That’s often what produces the best dishes.

    Reply

  101. Where’s my dinner invitation? I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be there! 🙂 Seriously, I’m a carb-o-holic and this looks like heaven!

    Reply

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