Red Wine Ravioli

Well, summer is here, the sun is shining, holy crap it's hot out even in Minnesota, and it's time to pluck fresh herbs from our garden, buy produce from the Midtown Farmer's Market (how we missed it) and make pasta from scratch. A lot.

After making quite a lot of linguine and farfalle, we decided to try an elusive shape we'd never tried before: the mysterious ravioli...

Red Wine Ravioli

Ingredients
about 2 cups durum semolina flour
about 1 cup bread flour
3 medium eggs
red wine as needed
15 mushrooms
1 red shallot
olive oil
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
hefty pinch oregano
small handful chopped basil

Music Listened To
chances are we put an iPod on shuffle and enjoyed whatever ridiculous thing came out

Procedure

Step 1: The Pasta. Pile a mixture of semolina and bread flour on a clean counter top and make a well in the middle. Crack your eggs into the well, taking care not to let it spill over the edge. Use a fork to break the yolks and mix them.


Very, very carefully, start to incorporate the flour from the edges of the well into the mixture, bolstering your walls as necessary. If it breaches (which it usually has when we do it) it's OK - just stop the egg from spilling all over the place and bring it back in its place (we did say this should be a clean counter top). Now, this will probably start to get pretty dry once everything gets mixed together, so this is where the wine comes in. Just give it a little glug every time it isn't holding together. I wouldn't go more than a quarter cup (if that), but do not fear the wine. If you're especially avid, you could even replace one or two of the eggs with an equivalent amount of wine.


Once it's mixed and the dough holds together in one big lump, wrap it up in plastic and throw it in the fridge for about an hour.

Step 2: The Rolling. This step really doesn't warrant much description, but it does take a heck of a lot of time. Divide the dough into two equal balls and roll it out (we went by hand with a rolling pin, but feel free to use a machine. If you're a wuss) until you have two 1 mm thick sheets of pasta. Don't just go by the thickness on one side - try to get it as even as possible.


Step 3: The Filling. Chop you shallot and mince your garlic. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the shallot. Saute for about 3-5 minutes, then add the garlic and finely chopped mushrooms. Add several glugs of wine - the mushrooms will just drink it up. After the wine is almost soaked up, add the herbs, salt, pepper and Parmesan and mix. You can leave it on low for a while if you like, but it's effectively ready to go once the cheese melts and is thoroughly mixed in.


Step 5: The Assembly. Lay out one of your pasta sheets on a cutting board and trim into the shape of a rectangle. Place about a teaspoon of filling in one corner, leaving about half an inch border from the edges. Place the next dollop also half an inch from the edges, a whole inch away from the first dollop. Continue adding dollops until you fill the rectangle with dollops, each separated by an inch, each no closer than about half an inch to the edge. Use a brush or your fingers to brush water onto the pasta that isn't covered by filling. This will help glue the ravioli together. Lay the other sheet on top. Gently use your fingers to form it into mounds over the dollops of filling.


Once you have all your pillows of filling set up, trim away the edges and cut the pasta into squares. Press the edges of the squares together to form a good seal (or else you may let water into your scrumptious filling).


Step 6: The Yummies. Put some water up to boil and prepare a sauce (I might suggest using the red wine sauce from my earlier post, although we just did a basic tomato marinara sauce).


Once the water is gently boiling, turn down the heat to medium or medium-high and drop in as much of the ravioli as will comfortably fit. We did ours in about two batches. You will be able to tell they're done once they're puffy and float to the surface. Scoop them out and put in the next batch.


At last, at long last, place ravioli in a bowl, slather with delicious sauce, and top with some freshly grated Parmesan.


Sorry to follow up all that typing with such a lousy photo of such a delicious dish. This is probably the first homemade pasta we ever made completely forsaking a recipe. While this sounds like a lot of work (indeed, it is more work than most of our recipes), it's honestly not as difficult as it sounds. The trickiest part is honestly just managing your time. This dish is more fun with a partner to help, but an adventurous sort could handle it on their own.

Have an excellent evening, and enjoy!

Vegetarian Haggis

Half of you just said "Vegetarian WHAT???"
The other half of you just said "Wait, WHAT kind of Haggis???"
This is a dish that never fails to get an amusing reaction from first-timers when they hear about it. Two of my favorites have been:
"Wouldn't that just be oatmeal?"
and
"I would be honored to eat such an oxymoronic dish!"

Silly reactions aside, this is an original Iain recipe that I first developed a couple years ago, and since has become an all-time favorite. When I studied for a semester at the University of Edinburgh, the President of the University gave us a greeting speech, in which he gave us a list of imperatives for our time in Edinburgh. Among the more traditional ones such as "study hard" were "go to a ceilidh," "climb Arthur's Seat," and "eat haggis - even the vegetarian varieties have become very good indeed as well, so no excuses!" I took all three bits of advice to heart and fell in love with the dish, so that when I came back home to the States, I was forlorn at the thought of not being able to enjoy it again until my return to Scotland! So I did some research and developed my own recipe to emulate the best Veggie Haggises as I remembered them looking, feeling and tasting. Many were skeptical (including Emily, who didn't really believe such a dish could be truly vegetarianized) and all were made believers, and since St. Andrew's Day was on Monday, I am pleased to bring this recipe to you!

I might also mention, the word "haggis" sounds hilarious with a Minnesota accent. "Hay-gis." Teeheeheehee :)

Let the Haggissing commence!


Dove Vegetarian Haggis (With Neeps 'n' Tatties!)


Ingredients:
1 large white onion (diced)
1 large grated carrot
1 cup of minced mushrooms
2 cups dry green lentils
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can of kidney beans (rinsed, chopped)
1 cup of crushed/chopped nuts (walnuts, peanuts and hazelnuts are all good)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs + thyme
2 tsp + rosemary
1 whallop cayenne powder (or half a seeded thai chili)
generous salt & pepper
1 cup steel cut oats
1 generous slug of Whisky
The heart, lungs and liver of a sheep (kidding! kidding!)

2 medium-large turnips
4 medium potatoes
butter
salt
milk

Materials:
Cutting boards and Knives
At least 1 large and 1 medium pot
Wooden spoon
9x13 baking pan
Masher
Kilt

Music Listened To:
The Thistle and Shamrock Celtic Christmas Ceilidh

Procedure:

1. Prep. Prepare all ingredients as listed. Generally the smaller you can cut things up the better. For the nuts, you may want to try putting them in a bag and bashing them with a rolling pin until they are in small, coarse bits. I recommend making your own veggie broth - I used leek greens and scallions seasoned with garlic, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves, although this takes a good couple hours.

2. Heat some butter or oil in a large pot and saute the onions for about five minutes.

3. Add the carrot, beans, nuts and mushrooms and continue sauteing for another five minutes. Add butter or oil as necessary.

4. Add the lentils and the broth. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes. Add the seasonings once simmering (do NOT go easy on the seasonings, and do NOT stick your finger in your nose after chopping hot peppers FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!)

5. Add the oatmeal and the whisky. Simmer another 15-20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes. This is a good time to prepare the neeps and tatties! Peel and cube the turnips and potatoes and bring 2 pots of water to a boil. Boil the neeps for 15 minutes, the tatties for about 10. Drain and mash both, add butter salt and milk to the tatties to your preference.

7. Pipe in and serve! I personally use a ladle for the the haggis and an ice cream scoop on the neeps and tatties to get that nice rounded look.

I very much hope you enjoy this recipe (Burns night comes on January 25th!). Do note that this recipe yeilds a LOT of food, and it is quite filling, so, if ye're a wee weak Sassainach, feel free to half it. I personally will be enjoying it for lunch for probably almost a week! This last time I made it, it turned out the best it ever has - definitely don't take it easy on the seasonings, since they all bolster each other, producing that unique haggis taste.

Cheers!

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Howdy everybody!

Iain here today. With November in full swing and the weather getting... well it's not actually getting much colder at the moment (damn you global warming!!), but in any case, it's time for some cold weather, warm-you-up-on-the-inside dishes. This one is an old favorite (I think it's the old Scottish blood that keeps me coming back. I'm probably compensating for the fact that I have no sheep of my own to raise) that my family makes back home in Chicago with sage grown from our own back yard. Since I have depleted my supply of said sage, I got some from our friends Annika and Dakota, who have been farming and gardening like crazy down in Northfield, so yay them!

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:
4-8 medium potatoes (depending on potato size and how thick you want the potato layer)
2 cups dry green lentils
1 medium onion
At least1 tbs of crushed, dried sage
A healthy pinch of oregano
A pinch of cayenne
salt
milk
butter

Materials:
2 medium or large pots
wooden spoon
potato masher or fork
whisk
1 baking pan (about 9x13 works well)
rubber spatula
knife and cutting board

Music Listened To:
I think I had a Cherish the Ladies Pandora station going...


Step 1: Prep. Start by putting the lentils in a pot and submerging in water. Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour. Give them plenty of water to start with, but if they dry up halfway through, submerge them again. Once that's going, peel and chop the potatoes and start them boiling in the other pot. Leave them to boil for at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, dice the onion.


Step 2: Assemble. Preheat the oven to 350. The potatoes should be done before the lentils. Drain them and mash with salt, milk and butter to your preferences. The more butter, the better the top will brown. I also tend to whisk them for a little fluff. When the lentils are done, drain them and mash with the onion, sage, oregano, salt and cayenne. You don't want them to become a paste - just a little cohesive. Spread the lentils on the bottom of the pan. Spread the potatoes on top, being careful not to mix with the lentils or churn things up. A delicate touch is necessary here. If you have some cooking spray, spraying a little on the top can help browning as well.


Step 3: Bake. In the words of the great Jamie Oliver, whack it in the oven for 20 minutes. You don't really need anything but the onion to cook, per se, you just need everything to come together. At the end, turn the oven to broil and open the oven door to keep an eye on things. As soon as you see the top beginning to turn brown, pull it out (if you wait too long, it can go black in seconds). Serve up and enjoy!


You can modify this recipe however you like. I know some people really enjoy carrots and peas mixed in with their shepherd's pie. My housemates seem to think cheese is an appropirate ingredient, which just confuses me... Obviously, if you are a carnivore, feel free to make this with ground beef or lamb, which is the original way to do it, but don't turn up your nose at the way of the lentil! While I enjoy beef shepherd's pie from The Celtic Knot pub in Evanston, IL, I always opt for the lentils when I make it myself because of their amazing flavor. I recommend serving this with a green salad and a good ale. Good times! Cheers!

Pasties

So, when I (Iain) start talking about pasties, people usually ask me one of the following two questions:

1) What's a pastie?

2) Aren't those English??

I think Neil Gaiman did a good job explaining the origins of the pastie in American Gods, but here's my synopsis. Pasties originally came from Cornwall, in England. Many people from Cornwall came over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to work in coal mines, taking the pastie with them. It was ideal for the miners, because they were hearty, filling and came in a nice pastry pouch that they could hold in their coal-covered hands and then they could toss the coal-y bits when they were done. I'm not sure how far apart Michigan pasties and Cornish pasties have diverged, although from what I understand, Cornish pasties contain mostly meat, while Michigan pasties tend towards the more veggieful side of things.

My mom's family is from Michigan, and so whenever I go to the North Woods, I need to have me some pasties. This last time, I was determined to spread the love of pasties to people far and abroad, starting with my housemates, and now you!

Being me, my pasties are vegetarian, although often they are quite good with meat.

Vegetarian Pasties

Ingredients:

Crust:
1.5 sticks of butter
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 hearty pinch of salt
5-6 tablespoons cold water or milk

Filling:
1 cup of sliced manly mushrooms
1 splash of white wine
1 splash of cider vinegar
2 splashes of milk
1 hearty pinch of flour
1 tablespoon of butter
1 manly carrot
1-2 manly turnips or rutabegas
1/2 a manly medium-sized winter squash (I used carnival squash)
2 manly potatoes
1 manly onion

*Note: yes, the manliness is required for all ingredients. How else are you going to survive the coal mines?

Materials
Cutting board
1 large, SHARP knife
2 large mixing bowls
1 wooden spoon
1 medium skillet
1 rolling pin
1 or more baking sheets
2 butter knifes or a pastry cutter.

Music Listened To:
Old Crow Medicine Show: "Big Iron World"

This will make about 6 pasties. If you have extra filling, make more pastry or just cook and eat it.

Step 1: Make the crust. Put all 3 cups of flour into a mixing bowl with the salt and half the butter. Cut the butter into the flour with the butter knives or pastry cutter until relatively fine. Cut in the rest of the butter until the bits of butter are about pea-sized. Sprinkle the milk or water bit by bit onto the flour and mix it in by hand until the dough is relatively cohesive. Wrap up the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for half an hour.


Step 2: Make the moist bits. With all those manly vegetables, we need something to have it all stick together. Normally, the meat takes care of the moisture for you, but alas, we don't have that luxury. This is going to resemble mushroom gravy. Saute the mushrooms in butter in the skillet. Sprinkle a little salt on there to coax out the juices. Cover it to minimize the loss of moisture to steam. Pour on a little white wine and apple cider vinegar to add to the moisture, as well as the milk. Put in a bit of flour to thicken it. Set aside.


Step 3: The manly veggies. Chop up the potatoes, onion, carrot, turnips/rutabega and squash into little 1/2 inch cubes. Place together in a bowl with plenty of salt and pepper. Add the mushroom stuff and mix thoroughly.


Step 4: Assemble. Now is a good time to pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Divide your pastry into 6 balls and roll them out to about a 6 inch diameter. Be patient with rolling the crust - pie crusts can be structurally fickle, so add moisture and/or flour as needed to get it to cooperate. Getting the crust right will pay off. Dollop about 1 1/2 cups of the veggie mixture into the middle of each pastie and fold the crust in half. If you want to add or remove filling, do it as needed. Roll the edge and press down with a fork or fingers. (Sorry for the blurriness of the picture)

Step 5: in the oven! Bake on the baking sheet for about 40 minutes. Test the veggies to see if they're done - if the potatoes are still too firm, give them a while longer. Ideally the potatoes should be soft but a touch al-dente, but if there's any crunch, they need more time.

Step 6: Find the nearest mine to get the coal to bake the next batch!

I hope you enjoy this North Woods treat as much as I do. They freeze well (before baking), and so even though I made these over a month ago, there's some cooking up in the oven right now! I'm going to go eat the

Vegetarian Tamales

Howdy all!
So here is my first food post. I hope you enjoy it!

Vegetarian Tamales
Ingredients:
5 ears of corn
1 canister of cornmeal
Lime Juice
Garlic Powder
Salt
1 can of frijoles negros (black beans)
6 Tomatillos

1 Onion
Cumin
Chili Powder
2 Jalapenos
Cheddar Cheese

Kitchen Equipment
Knives
Cutting Boards
Skillet
Medium Bowl
1 can of frijoles negros (black beans)
Large Pot
Metal Caulinder
Pan for soaking

Music Listened To:
The Rough Guide to Irish Music

So Tamales are a pretty intimidating dish. That's why I'd never attempted them before now - everything I'd heard made them sound pretty difficult, and they're supposed to take forever to make.

BUT

It actually turned out to be pretty straight forwa rd. It all broke down into 3 basic steps of 1) prepare masa 2) prepare filling and 3) put masa and fillings in husks and steam for 2 hours. If I can make them, you bet your butt you can too.

Part I: Making Masa
So if you have a nearby place that will sell you true masa, go ahead and buy it and prepare it according to package directions. That is, if you want to be boring. The way I chose was far more amusing to me.

1. First of all, I shucked my five ears of corn, being careful not to tear the husks. Set these aside to soak in a pan, bowl or sink.


2. Cut the kernels away from the cob into a bowl. Be generous - every bit of corny goodness helps. The cobs can just be thrown away.

3. This is the part where I felt simply deranged. If you have a blender and want to be boring/sane, go ahead and use it. I, on the other hand, used the nearest available equipment, and bashed the hell out of the corn with a can of black beans. Aside from taking half an hour, it was actually quite fun. Don't waste your time pounding up and down, though, as fun as it is - pressing straight down and twisting the can back and forth to grind the kernels is much more effective. Do this until the kernels are barely recognizable as kernels.

4. There should be a fair amount of liquid in the bowl at this point. To make the consistency more masa-ish and to get rid of the liquid, start adding cornmeal and mixing it in. Keep adding it until you get something resembling the consistency of chunky peanut butter (probably about 2 cups of cornmeal, give or take).

5. Mix in some lime juice, a generous amount of salt (at least a teaspoon) and a generous amount of garlic powder. Congratulations, you now have masa fresher and yummier than anything you'd get in the store. Set it aside.


Part II: Making the Filling
The nice thing about making vegetarian tamales is that, since tamales are normally made with meat, there is no standard of what to put in them. Pick whatever veggies or cheeses you want. The important thing is to get plenty of cumin and chili powder in there. Being a fan of beans, tomatillos, onions and Jalapenos, I used those. If you prefer tomatos, avocados, bell peppers and Japanese eggplant, go ahead and use those.

1. Chop your veggies, grate your cheese, all that good stuff. Make sure to throw away the tomatillo husks - they aren't edible. If using hot peppers do NOT stick your finger in your nose after chopping. Seriously.

2. Start cooking the onion first, then add the tomatillos and beans. This stage of the process looks really pretty. Put in plenty of cumin (at least a tablespoon) and plenty of chili powder (at least two tablespoons). Stir in your cheese and Jalapenos towards the end. That's all for that section, folks!


Part III: Assembling and Steaming Tamales
Here's where things get fun (well, funner, at least. It's hard to beat bashing the corn though...) Use the pictures as a guide.

1. Put your pot with a little water on the stove to boil.

2. Take a corn husk and hold it open in your palm. It should be nice and pliable after soaking. Take a few forkfuls of masa and spread it around the husk, leaving 1/3 of it on the right side clear, and probably only covering the bottom half of the husk. If it is a small husk, feel free to cover the whole thing and down the line use another small husk to finish the wrapping bit.


3. Take a light spoonfull of the filling and make a little trail of it down the center of the masa. If you put in too much, the tamale will be difficult to wrap shut. If you are Emily or generally sympathetic to her love of cheese, feel free to add some cheese on top of the filling.


4. Wrap the tamale into a cylinder, using the uncovered third of it to cover up any exposed masa or filling. There should be a little "tail" of husk that doesn't have any masa or filling in it. Bend the tail so that the tamale can sit upright. Set it in the caulinder vertically (most recipes call for a real steamer, but hell if I'm going to spend $40 on a pot and steamer so I can make tamales). Repeat steps 2-4 until you have as many tamales as you can fill.



5. Set the caulinder on the rim of the pot and leave the tamales to steam for 2 hours. Use this time to watch a bad movie, snuggle and/or make a side dish (we did spanish rice, you could also do rice and beans, or whatever you want, really).


And there you have it, folks! Veggie-friendly tamales! Definitely something to do when you have a few spare hours to do cooking - not just a weekday dish, but it's definitely worth the time. Enjoy!