Macaroni and Cheese

My brother loves macaroni and cheese, or rather he loves my mom's macaroni and cheese. It does taste good but the thing that's really amazing about it is that it tastes nothing like cheese.  She uses so much shredded cheddar in it and for the life of me I have no idea how she sucks the cheese flavor out of it but I digress.  This is MY macaroni and cheese and you can definitely taste the cheese.  It's based loosely on a german cheese spread called obatzda.

8 oz Brie or camembert
12 oz shredded cheese (a mixture of cheddar, gouda, and or mozzarella, smoked or not smoked, whatever you like)
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup wheat beer
1 tsp lemon juice
1 egg, beaten
2 leeks, shredded
1/2 lb dried elbow macaroni
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs (or crushed cheese crackers)
salt

1. cook the pasta in boiling salted water until just shy of al dente (it'll finish cooking in the oven)
2. remove the rind of the brie/camembert, combine in a bowl with the butter, cream cheese, mustard, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic. use a fork to mush them into a homogenized paste. Thin the cheese mixture with the beer and lemon and then mix in the beaten egg.
3. fry the bacon until crispy, remove from the pan, and drain on paper towels. once the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it into 3/8 inch pieces. in the bacon dripping, fry the leeks over medium heat until softened and take on a bit of color around the edges. set aside to cool.
4. fold in the bacon, leeks, 10 oz of the shredded, and the cooked pasta (when you drain the pasta run cold water over it to cool it off, you don't wanna add anything to the cheese mixture while its still hot.
5. transfer the mixture to a 2 quart casserole dish, top with the bread crumbs and remaining 2 oz of shredded cheese (sometimes I chop up the brie rind and sprinkle that on top too). back at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown

Ravioli

Making ravioli isn't something I'd do everyday but if you have the time, it makes a fun afternoon and you can always just much a bunch of them and freeze them. The spices in the pasta dough don't do much for the taste but will change the color (paprika for orange, turmeric for yellow); normal pasta beige is so boring.  I wouldn't eat the 2 fillings together, but apparently I'm the only one in this house that likes dates so I made the ricotta one so they wouldn't bite my head off.

Arugula Ricotta
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup arugula
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp shredded parmesan
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pine nuts

Chorizo and Date
4 oz fresh chorizo, removed from the casing and crumbled up
3-4 dates, chopped
2 tbsp finely grated asiago
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 dried sliced chiles
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp coarsely ground hazelnuts
1 tbsp butter

Pasta
2 eggs
3 tbsp water
1 tsp olive oil
hefty pinch salt
hefty pinch paprika or turmeric (optional)
AP flour
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water)

For the pasta
1. to make the pasta, mix the water, oil, salt, eggs, and the paprika/ turmeric if using.  Make a mound of flour (lets say about 3 cups) on the counter and make a little well in the center, pour in the eggs mixture in the center.  Slowly work in the flour until it's a stiff paste.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. knead the dough until its smooth and elastic.
3. roll out the dough until it's about the thickness of a quarter. using a biscuit cutter of about 3 inches in diameter.
4. place about 1 tsp of filling in the center of each circle, fold the pasta circle in half, using the egg wash as glue (only put it on one edge).
5. cook in salted boiling water until they float.

For the arugula and ricotta filling
1. add 1 tbsp of the olive oil to a sauté pan over, add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the arugula and cook until wilted.
2. let the arugula cool, roughly chop it up and squeeze out as much moisture from the arugula.
3. mix the arugula with the ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg, and pepper.
4. fill the pasta with it and cook like step 5 in the pasta instructions.
5. heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil to a pan over medium heat, sauté the pine nuts until toasted and add in the cooked ravioli. sauté them until they take on some color; keep them moving so they don't stick to the pan. serve, with a bit more parmesan on top

For the chorizo and date
1. add the olive oil to a pan over medium heat. add the chorizo and sauté until throughly cooked through.
2. drain the chorizo on paper towels.
3. mix the cooked chorizo with the dates, cinnamon, and asiago.
4. fill the pasta with it and cook like step 5 in the pasta instructions.
5. melt the butter over medium low heat, add in the dried chiles. sauté for 45 seconds and then add in the cooked ravioli. raise the heat to medium and sauté them until they take on some color; keep them moving so they don't stick to the pan. serve, sprinkled with the ground hazelnuts and maybe a bit more asiago if you like.

Pepperoni Pasta

Keith came up with this and we eat it a lot. You can use normal pepperoni and thats how Keith likes it but I think it's a little nicer to use some special salami. Using some salami from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats makes this extra good.


8 oz spaghetti
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 onion diced
2 oz pepperoni or salami,
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp sliced red chilies/red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic oil (optional)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. boil pasta in salted water (it should taste like ocean water) until al dente. you can add some olive oil to the boiling water to prevent foam overs.
2. in a separate pan add the olive oil, butter, garlic, onion, chilies, and italian seasoning fry for about 2 minutes or until fragrant.
3. add in the pepperoni/ salami and continue to fry until the meat takes a bit of color.
4. turn down the heat down to low and toss in the pasta. mix the ingredients and pasta well for a minute. turn off the fire and add in the parmesan. stir well and serve. add extra cheese if desired.