Fettuccine Burro e Parmigiano

Guess what today's post marks?  This post is my 100th post, oh my goodness I can't believe I have been posting this much since I started this blog in December.  I wanted to make this post different, special, and above all a celebration of food.  My sister-in-law Rachelle had wonderful suggestions: 100 ingredients for the recipe, a recipe that feeds 100 people, or a recipe that is only 100 calories.  I decided my post would be a recipe that was first created 100 years ago.

Let me share the cliff notes history version of this recipe.  As you may have guessed, my recipe is Italian from the name and you most likely recognize some of the Italian words easily.  The year was 1914 in Via della Scrofa, Rome a restaurant owner/chef named Alfredo di Lelio wanted to make a meal his pregnant wife could eat and enjoy.  Ines di Lelio was pregnant with their second child and having horrible nausea.  Ines enjoyed the Fettuccine Burro e Parmigiano so much she ate it regularly. Alfredo's recipe is what we affectionately call Fettuccini Alfredo here in the USA.  In honor of Ines and Alfredo's recipe, my friend's Siri, Bridget, Angela, and Whitney helped me make and enjoy this dish.  Both Siri and Whitney are pregnant, so in a way we have truly come full circle with recreating the original recipe and circumstances (sort of, since my name isn't Alfredo, I don't own a restaurant, and we don't live in Italy, but other than that we're close). Thank you to my friend's for sharing in this foodie celebration. 

 Doesn't it look so creamy and delicious?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 lb. fresh or dry fettuccine (I used homemade, my recipe can be found here), 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup grated parmigiano, 3 tablespoons pasta water, and black pepper to taste.

 Boil a large pot of water, salt it liberally and cook fettuccine until al dente (use instructions on box
 for time, or 2 minutes for fresh).  First remove three tablespoons of pasta water then drain
pasta in colander.

 In another saute pan melt butter.

 Add cheese, fresh black pepper, and the reserved 3 tablespoons of pasta water.

 Whisk sauce until cheese has melted.

 Add pasta and stir pasta in sauce.

Serve pasta with some more grated parmigiano on top.  This pasta is very light and creamy, not
at all heavy.  My pregnant friends agreed this was a wonderful pasta recipe.

Thank you Alfredo for creating a wonderful pasta dish for your wife and sharing it with the world.
 If you are interested in learning more about this recipe you can read about it here.

Enjoy!

Banana Walnut Multigrain Muffins

This week when I bought all that wonderful $1 produce. I bought a bag of bananas too.  Those banana's were just begging me to make them into muffins.  I know what you're thinking. My goodness, this woman is obsessed with muffins.   What is her problem?  Good news, this will be my last muffin recipe for a while.  The muffin girl is retiring her quest to make all sorts of muffins.   I'll make them, just not new recipes to share with you.  I have found my four go to muffin recipes as of today!  Go forth today knowing I have given you a sure foundation of muffins to create your own muffindom, and you didn't have to go to Drury Lane!

 THIS is the culmination of muffindom!

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup turbinado sugar (brown sugar
would also work), 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon,
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract,  1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
(approximately 3 medium-large bananas), 1/4 cup Agave Syrup (honey would also work), 2 large
eggs, 2 cups Wonderflour (whole wheat would also work, and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

 Cream butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda in a mixer with a whisk.

 Creamed mixture.

 Add bananas, and agave, beat till smooth.

 Add eggs and beat till smooth.

 this batter is looking smooth.

 Add walnuts, and flour and stir with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.

 This batter is ready for baking.

Make sure you use muffin liners!  This recipe makes 12 muffins, I doubled it for my family.

Place filled muffin pans in oven and bake for 23-28 minutes, check if they are done with a toothpick.

 They are done!

This is a wonderful end to my muffin week.

Enjoy!

Ghee

Do you know what Ghee is?  Ghee is the Indian name for clarified butter.  Ghee has a higher smoke point than butter, meaning it can be cooked at a higher temperature before it burns.  Ghee is made from butter.  This is the first recipe I have made with only one ingredient.  I wanted Ghee to make an Indian inspired dinner tonight, so needless to say this was the first food to prepare.

Look at the golden goodness.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 lb. unsalted butter.
You are welcome to use organic or butter made from milk produced by grass fed cows.

 Slice butter into pats and place in a sauce pan over low heat.

 Remove white foam, which is the milk solids from the top. 

 Continue to simmer until all the white stuff is gone and you see a beautiful yellow liquid only.

 You should allow the Ghee to cool before straining but I was in a hurry to make dinner.
Pour Ghee through a coffee filter lined strainer over a bowl.  Allow to drain.

 Pour Ghee into a lidded container, such as a mason jar.  This is now ready to use in any
number of Indian inspired recipes.

Enjoy!

Soft Pretzels

I think I am allowed to say that I'm a New Yorker.   A friend of mine (my daughter's Girl Scout troop leader), said I'm a New Yorker now.  As a New Yorker, I can say I am in love with soft pretzels.  Of course, as a California girl I was making them way before I ever came to New York.  My pretzel skills really amount to trying out different recipes and finding the perfect one and not straying from that recipe.   Actually, I did stray from it a tiny bit today, and I have no intention of going back.  This recipe is wonderful, except the pretzels get eaten so fast, and I only ate one.  You don't need New York water, or to be a monk, to make these (A monk created pretzels as both a lesson in how to pray and a treat for children to pray). 

 Soft delicious, salted pretzels.  I want one right now.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons sea salt,
1 package active dry yeast, 22 ounces bread flour (about 4 1/2 cups), and 2 ounces melted
unsalted butter.

 Bloom yeast in warm water, sugar, and salt, about 5 minutes.

 Add flour and butter.

Mix with dough hook until it cleans bowl, about 4 to 5 minutes.

 Remove dough from bowl.   Oil bowl and put dough back.  Cover with plastic wrap and put in
warm place.  In my case my kitchen window is warm.  Let rest for 50-55 minutes or until
dough has doubled.  

Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit.

 I weighed my dough and separated it into 16 equal portions. 

 Pour 10 cups of water into deep sauce pan or any deep sided pan.  Add 2/3 cup Baking Soda
and turn burner to high.

 Roll dough using fingers, spreading your fingers as you roll.  DO NOT FLOUR YOUR
WORK SURFACE!  You need that dough to be a little sticky so you have traction to roll it
into a long rope.

 Make a U shape with the dough.

 Cross over, and...

 Bring the ends down to make a pretzel shape.

 Place rolled pretzels on parchment paper, ready to be boiled.

 Boil pretzels for 30 seconds and remove with slotted spoon back to parchment paper.

Place pretzels on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Combine 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon
water in bowl.  With a pastry brush, brush egg wash onto the pretzels.  At this point, if you
want salted pretzels add it now.  I have the salt grinder from Costco, so I set it to the coarsest
setting and cranked that over our pretzels.

Bake pretzels in 450 Fahrenheit oven for 12 minutes.  Remove and let cool on wire rack.
I like my pretzels with mustard, but you can decide what you will serve yours with.

Enjoy!