http://www.saltshaker.net/20060217/cinnamon-basil-pecans Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:06:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060217/cinnamon-basil-pecans#comment-480 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Viva Italia! Sat, 03 Jun 2006 13:57:49 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060217/cinnamon-basil-pecans#comment-480 [...] So, fresh semolina pasta - a simple mix of 2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 cups of semolina flour, a large pinch of salt, 6 eggs, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Knead it until it’s a smooth dough, then let it rest at room temperature for a minimum of half an hour. Then roll it out and cut into the shape you want (or use a machine as I did). I’ve covered making fresh pesto before, so I’m not going to repeat myself. This one was made with basil, walnuts, garlic, and parmesan. I used white pepper instead of black because I’d used so much black pepper in the previous dish. [...] [...] So, fresh semolina pasta - a simple mix of 2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 cups of semolina flour, a large pinch of salt, 6 eggs, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Knead it until it’s a smooth dough, then let it rest at room temperature for a minimum of half an hour. Then roll it out and cut into the shape you want (or use a machine as I did). I’ve covered making fresh pesto before, so I’m not going to repeat myself. This one was made with basil, walnuts, garlic, and parmesan. I used white pepper instead of black because I’d used so much black pepper in the previous dish. [...]

]]> http://www.saltshaker.net/20060217/cinnamon-basil-pecans#comment-232 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Selection of Pasta Tue, 07 Mar 2006 22:21:22 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060217/cinnamon-basil-pecans#comment-232 [...] We weren’t holding out a lot of hope by this point for the pastas we’d ordered. We had been impressed with the menu selection - easily a dozen different pastas, with a choice of two dozen sauces, many of which sounded quite creative. Add to that another dozen house special pastas with their own predetermined sauces and it’s clear these folks are serious about the genre. Thankfully, they deliver on this part of the menu. Henry loves my pesto, and I know what usually passes for the stuff here, so I tried to talk him out of ordering it here, despite their assurances on the menu that they use fresh basil, walnuts, garlic, and parmesan. As it turned out, it wasn’t bad. It still isn’t on the scale of truly intense fresh pesto, but, it wasn’t bad. Next time, puree the garlic and nuts in with the basil and cheese and you’ll be closer… [...] [...] We weren’t holding out a lot of hope by this point for the pastas we’d ordered. We had been impressed with the menu selection - easily a dozen different pastas, with a choice of two dozen sauces, many of which sounded quite creative. Add to that another dozen house special pastas with their own predetermined sauces and it’s clear these folks are serious about the genre. Thankfully, they deliver on this part of the menu. Henry loves my pesto, and I know what usually passes for the stuff here, so I tried to talk him out of ordering it here, despite their assurances on the menu that they use fresh basil, walnuts, garlic, and parmesan. As it turned out, it wasn’t bad. It still isn’t on the scale of truly intense fresh pesto, but, it wasn’t bad. Next time, puree the garlic and nuts in with the basil and cheese and you’ll be closer… [...]

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