Tagliatelle

Tagliatelle with Pancetta, mozzarella, and fresh basil.

For the gluten version: http://vikalinka.com/2013/10/22/tagliatelle-with-pancetta-basil-and-mozzarella/

I hate when gluten free food tastes like crap. Since I'm Italian, gluten free food has been an even bigger challenge, because I have a good chunk of family recipes. Tagliatelle is another Italian pasta that uses a red sauce base. What you'll need is: Olive oil, gluten free noodles, garlic, mozzarella, red pepper flakes, fresh basil, crushed tomatoes, and pancetta.

Pancetta is an Italian meat, a pork product in particular.

I've recently found these gluten free noodles, that are so fresh that they're still doughy and sticky when you pull them out of the package, it may also have something to do with the company based out of Seattle & not having to go very far to get to Alaska. They only take about 3 minutes to cook. For this recipe I used two packages. 

I need to be specific on pancetta. You can probably find in your deli section at the grocery store pre packaged packs of pancetta, thinly sliced, but you'll want to ask the deli worker to slice fresh pancetta. You'll also want to ask for a size "10" thickness cut. Or whatever the diagram at the store tells you is the thickest cut of meat. 

For this recipe I ask for about a half of a pound, give or take a few ounces.

Then you'll want to cube it all up!

Then take your fresh basil, and trim the ends. Then you can either "rip" the leaves apart or just coarsely chop the leaves into large chunks. Whatever your fancy.

Measure out about 2 cups of crushed tomatoes.

In a pretty large pan, you'll want to put about 2 TBSP of olive oil. I say "about" on all the measurements because I'm quite possibly the most laziest measurer due to the fact that not all measurements when converting normal recipes to GF safe recipes are accurate. I'm sure I could get a conversion chart, but I could also just figure it out as I go. Let me quote the famous painter Bob Ross: "We dont make mistakes, just happy little accidents" 

Anyhoo, back to the recipe, put the olive oil in, then add the cubes of pancetta you chopped up. & start the browning process. Essentially you don't want any fat left on those chunks by the time the recipe is ready.

like so..(below)

once they're all browned, and the fat is hard to see, add your "pinch" of red pepper flakes & your garlic.

Let that simmer for about a minute, and stir it up so the garlic and pepper flakes don't burn to the bottom of your pan.

Then dump in your 2 C of crushed tomatoes and half of your basil leaves you ripped/chopped up

Then bring the temperature down from medium to low heat and let it simmer until the noodles are ready. 

I wanted to show these noodles off, because this really was a leap of faith the first time I used them. & I was so pleased. 

The only thing I hate about them, is that they really really stick together. Which is a pain to pull apart.

Eventually I gave up, and just put it in the pot.

You'll want to follow the directions for the noodles of your choice on the back of the package.

Another cool thing about these noodles, is there is no corn, wheat, or rice flour in them. Which begs the question: What the hell are in these noodles? Answer: Very little. But they're good, I promise! I wouldn't endorse nasty food.

Once the noodles are cooked to your liking, add them to the sauce mix you have simmering on another burner, and the rest of your basil.

If your sauce has gotten too thick while you were waiting on your noodles, grab a measuring cup with some of the noodle water. According to the recipe I got this from, normally the starch left in the water after normal noodles cook, it will help the sauce some how, but It really doesn't make much of a difference, it's just helpful to grab it from the pan because it's really hot like your sauce- so it won't drastically change the temp of your food. 

I know I usually say stay away from milky cheeses, but for this, I couldn't help myself. I added fresh mozzarella, and let it melt into the pasta.

Then add some parmesan on top!

Beautiful dish :)

Enjoy!-- M

St.Patricks Day Dinner

Hello blog followers! I want to apologize for my brief hiatus, I was in Hawaii :) pretty good excuse I think. But what perfect timing to get home on St. Patricks Day. Now I'm an Italirish= (Italian/Irish American) and more so than not I think I associate myself more with the Italian side. However, this is the day, that I refuse to miss! 

Tonight my hubby and I were joking around and talking about the origin of St.Patricks day, and how Corned Beef is really not an Irish dish. In fact this dish is of English descent and has now been adopted by the Irish in Ireland because they know they have tourists that will want it when in Ireland. But, it's a delicious dish, associated with a fun day and I like to have it for dinner every once in a while.

So lets start! I was at my local grocery store today, and looked at their corned beef briskets, and really wasn't impressed. Sure it said it was "gluten free" but what kind of preservatives were used? Were there any fillers that I don't know about? What is in the mixture you're supposed to rub in to the meat? 

So I just decided to go to my local butcher and get one that was fresh and natural. 

& I'm so glad I did, cause it was so delicious. I went to Mat Valley Meats, located on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, in Wasilla, AK.

It wasn't frozen, and it was freshly ready to go- already brined and had a rub on it, then vacuumed packed. So all I had to do was put it in my crock pot with a little bit of water and cook it for the afternoon. 

It was beautiful even when raw.

Add some water or some sort of liquid, I started with about a cup, then adjusted based on how full I wanted the crock pot to be. I always add extra water or some sort of liquid to ensure that the piece of meat wont get dried out while I'm ignoring it.

So then I moved on to Irish Soda Bread. I used the Barefoot Contessa's version, and just converted it accordingly. If you want the original go here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/irish-soda-bread-recipe.html

So, the beautiful thing about soda bread is that it doesn't take a lot of effort. A lot of breads are put this in an extra bowl and add slowly, then knead and punch and let rise for hours. Soda bread, you throw everything into your mixer and just put it all together at once.  So what you'll need, or what I should say  is, what I used was--  Almond milk (original), salt, sugar, currants, Pamela's GF flour, an egg, baking soda & butter. Pretty dang simple.

How I started was by measuring out my liquids, because this dough is super sticky, and can be on the verge of runny if you're not careful. The key is to make sure that you're mixer is on low speed with your paddle attachment, and let it get all mixed in evenly, rather than just dumping it in and having your liquid just sit on the bottom of your bowl. 

This recipe usually calls for buttermilk, but in my mind, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen in my stomach. So I used almond milk, original flavoring-- 1 3/4 C, then I cracked a large egg into it and beat it with a fork. 

Then I dumped all my dry ingredients into my mixer, 4 C GF flour, 4 TBSP white sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, salt. Attach your paddle and put it on medium speed.

I took this picture below for a trick that I use. My mom taught me this, a lot of sugar will quickly clump up and become rock hard. A super cool trick you can do is to buy a vanilla bean, a whole bean from your grocery store, and put it in your sugar bucket. It will prevent any clumping and will make your sugar just a hint sweeter. 

So I set my paddle to medium,

added my almond milk, with my egg beaten in.

Then, I cubed 1/2 stick of butter, still cold from the fridge, and slowly added it to the batter. You keep the paddle moving the whole time because it will heat the butter up with its speed to the right consistency and size.

Then you'll want to measure the currents. What you want to do is put 1 C of currents in a separate bowl.

Then you'll add about 1 TBSP of GF flour, and put it on top of the currants, then mix it together. Make sure that all the currents are covered. This will prevent the currants from getting stuck together, and will make it evenly distributed throughout the entire batter. Cool trick huh?

add the floured currants into the mixture and mix.

Add some flour to a hard surface, & coat the bread dough in it. Do not be afraid to use more flour than normal.

This dough is particularly runnier than other bread doughs. It is super sticky, & I'm not sure if its cause of the GF conversion or what. But either way, be generous with the flour on the counter, then when its moldable, mold it into a nice round shape.

Then I added parchment paper to a cake pan.

put the dough in there.

& Baked for about 40 minutes at 375. & look how amazing it looks.

It was seriously SO good. Best bread I've made as a GF individual.

Next up, cabbage mashed potatoes.

For the original recipe go here: http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2014/0317/St.-Patrick-s-Day-Colcannon-Irish-mashed-potatoes-and-cabbage-video

this recipe called for 2 LARGE russet potatoes, but I only had small ones. So I peeled 4 potatoes instead.

 Then you cube them :)

After you're done cubing them, put them in to a large pot to boil until a knife or fork can go right through them without force. 

In the mean time, take your cabbage & take all the gnarly stuff off. Outer layer, the hard inside and then shred into thin slices

& put it in a pan with leaks, butter & 1/4 c water. For about 15 minutes, until they're wilted.

When your potatoes are done, put them in a separate bowl.

Then heat up a 1/2 C of almond milk in a microwave or a small pan.

& add it to your potatoes. then mash until creamy

Once the potato consistency is the way you like it, add the cabbage and leaks that you've had cooking on the stove. & Fold it into the potatoes.

Pull the corn beef out of the crock pot & enjoy!

 & if you're lucky like my husband, you'll get to enjoy a nice Guinness too.

-M