Barr’s New England Clam Chowder

4 strips of bacon small dice
1 medium onion small dice
3 carrots medium dice
3 stalks celery medium dice
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 lbs Russet or Golden Yukon potatoes peeled and cut into one inch pieces.
3 sprigs of fresh Thyme
2/3 stick of unsalted butter
1 – 51 ounce can Chopped Clams (Snows Restaurant Style) 
2 cups (16 ounces) heavy cream
2 cups whole milk

Boil potatoes until 1/2 done in a 4.5 quart or greater capacity pot

In the now empty pot:

Brown bacon well – drain fat
Add carrots and simmer until medium tender
Add celery and simmer until medium tender
Add onions and simmer until tender
Add chicken stock butter and simmer until reduced by 1/4
Add heavy cream, milk (or a quart of half & half), and the can of clams with their juice
Add the cooked potatoes
Add Thyme sprigs
Simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender
Remove the thyme sprigs
Adjust with salt and pepper

Homemade Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup good mayonnaise (read: Hellmann’s)
2 tablespoons finely diced pickles
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon finely diced capers
1 teaspoon coarse grained mustard
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tartar-sauce-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Barr’s Homemade Mayo – It’s easy to make

Salt is Salt…right?

I asked Cooks Illustrated what the differences are between table salt, sea salt and kosher salt.  This is what they said…

What distinguishes one salt from another is texture, shape, and mineral content. Table salt usually includes anti-caking agents that help it pour smoothly. Kosher salt has larger grains and does not contain any additives, and sea salt is rich in minerals. 

We use kosher for seasoning meat and table for most other applications. Sea salt, much more expensive, is not worth using unless you want to add it as a “finishing salt” to add a delicate crunch. 

That said, use Kosher salt for salting meats and just about everything unless your recipe calls for a particular measurement of salt.  In that case, use table salt.  

Sausage Pizza Ravioli

The other day I was in the mood for a sausage pizza but I was in Ravioli mode so I decided to make a Pizza Ravioli. Interestingly, I found a plethora of pizza ravioli images that were simply pizzas with ravioli’s laid on top. This is not what I wanted to make.


I also found a video where the ravioli consisted with a large dollop of tomato sauce, a slight sprinkling of mozzarella and a tiny piece of peperoni on top…not even close to what I thought would be acceptable.  I wanted to make a ravioli that tasted like a pizza with the same ratio of ingredients (+/-) i.e. mostly cheese, a lesser amount of sausage and a bit of tomato sauce.


After musing for more time that was probably necessary I decided on the following proportions:

10 Oz sweet (mild) Italian Sausage with fennel seeds

1 Lb. (16 ounces) Whole Milk Shredded Mozzarella

1 Cup of your favorite Marinara Sauce

1 Tbs Olive Oil

Making The Filling:  Brown the sausage in the oil and then transfer into a fine mesh strainer to drain (do not press down on the sausage to expel the grease). Let cool and crumble and then mix the sausage, cheese and sauce with a large spoon mix until all of the ingredients well-incorporated. You can prepare the filling up to a couple of days before you make the Ravioli.


Making the Ravioli: 


Cooking Them: The traditional method of cooking Ravioli is by dropping them into a boiling pot of water. Other ways are by deep frying, pan frying them in butter and olive oil or even baking them. I chose to pan fry them and they were delish!


Serving Them: Coated with marinara sauce, a side garden salad or whatever else strikes your fancy.


Enjoy!

Making Homemade Pasta

If you ever thought that making homemade pasta was difficult, think again.  All you really need is a food processor and a hand-crank pasta machine.  Suffice it to say, it takes about a minute to make the dough in the food processor. 

Assuming that you have a food processor I will concentrate on some of the devices that will make pasta making easy.

Making Pasta..The Machine: I bought the Marcato Atlas 150 Wellness model for less than $70.00 at Amazon.  The unit is made in Italy and I suggest that you stick with any Italian-made pasta machine.    There are two problems with this machine.  The first is that there are settings that determine how thin to your pasta but the instructions are pathetic and don’t give much in which setting for are for what kind of pasta, i.e. for spaghetti, fettuccine or ravioli.  The other is that the hand crank does not lock into place so a couple of times it dropped to the floor.  None of these are deal killers but you should be aware of them.  

Marcato-Atlas-Wellness Pasta Machine

Making Ravioli:  A large 3 inch round or square ravioli stamp (or both) is indispensable.  I recommend the Eppicotispai simply because the edges are sharp and easily cuts through dough unlike some of the others that you may find for sale.  This cost me a pasta noodle more than $6.00.  If you are making ravioli as a main course a large stamp is invaluable. Hand Wash Only! 
Eppicotispai Aluminum Ravioli Stamp – 3″

It is advisable to own at least one gadget to make ravioli.  I own two.  The second cost under $14.00 and makes perfectly shaped and filled ravioli in 2.5″ x 2/5 inch squares which is a good size for appetizers. You will need a rolling pin and to use this gizmo.  
 Norpro 12 Raviol Maker With Press

Pasta making pasta dough/ravioli videos: 

Laura Vitale Pasta Dough Recipe 

Laura Vitale Ravioli Video 

Note: I know that there are many, Laura Vitale included, recommend that the pasta for Ravioli be thinned to near the lowest setting.  For me, I find that the thickness of setting #6 (of 9 for my pasta machine) makes a pasta sheet that maintains its integrity when  it needs to be stretched to top a well-stuffed ravioli or when dumped into a pot of boiling water.   

Another thing that you will probably need is a drying rack for spaghetti and like shaped pasta.  This one cost a whopping $12.92.  

 Norpro-1048 Pasta Drying Rack

NOTE: Don’t wast your $$$ on those all-in-one electric machines where you dump in all of the ingredients that magically extrudes pasta.

Homemade Ravioli / Beef, Ricotta cheese and Basil with Mushroom Sauce

 Click on Photo To Enlarge

If you ever thought about making your own Ravioli then maybe this pic will encourage you.  Making them is actually quite easy. I made the fillings with:

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil to brown beef
8 ounces (package weight) of browned beef ground beef
8 ounces of Ricotta cheese (1 cup)
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves (1Tbs of dried Basil)
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
(Complements to Cooks Illustrated) 

I made the sauce with milk, chicken base, mushroom base,  thyme leaves, parsley, marinaded mushrooms, butter and grated Parmesan cheese.   

Barr’s Homemade Mayonnaise

Click on image to enlarge

1 Whole Large Egg + 1 Yolk 
2 TBS White Wine Vinegar (Not distilled)
1/2 tsp fine grain salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 – 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil 
1/2 heaping tsp powdered mustard

In a beaker, add the oil, then drop the eggs so they settle into the bottom. 

Then add in the remaining ingredients and let stand for 20 minutes. 

Submerge a stick blender to the bottom of the beaker and pulse on high speed until the eggs and oil begin to emulsify.

Then raise and lower the blender emulsifying the remainder of the liquid which by now has gotten very thick. 

If there is a little oil on the top just hand mix it in with the rest, use immediately or place in an air tight container and refrigerate.    

If you are wondering how long your mayo will last in the fridge I can’t say for sure. But anything that acids like vinegar and lemon will extend its longevity. 

Also, the more air in the container the quicker it will spoil. Therefore, it would be prudent to start with a container barely fits all of the mayo. Then 1/2 of the mayo has been consumed transfer to a smaller container. 

Below is a link to the procedural video. Please ensure that whenever you use an immersion blender make sure that you unplug it before you try to recover any of the mayo from around the blade. 

Chef John @ Foodwishes.com