italian pasta Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Poor Man's Gourmet Kitchen

Spaghetti with Meatballs and Angel Hair Pasta

Introducing My Spaghetti with Meatballs!

Making Spaghetti with Meatballs from scratch is about the best thing you can do for your pallet. I mean the flavor is so much more luxurious than a simple can of sauce. Though my children do love those spaghetti O’s, even my year old son couldn’t get enough of this recipe when I filmed it last night. I have posted about this recipe in the past but there are a several differences.

First off, I’ve never included my Meat Ball Recipe, and I even mentioned in the original post that I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to, but here it is. Second, the recipe before used canned ingredients, tomatoes and tomato paste, but today I’m re-introducing this recipe with all fresh ingredients, which I personally like better. Also the option to add a red wine wasn’t exercised in this recipe, but it wouldn’t hurt one bit if you decide to add it. Honestly, I would have but I was out. And just so you know, and as far as I know, Spaghetti has never been made the way I make this Spaghetti with Meatballs recipe, because I use and reduce beef stalk(Bouillon). That’s right! This isn’t a recipe for vegetarians.

Spaghetti with Meatballs Ingredients:

MEATBALLS
2 lbs Ground Beef
1 lbs Ground Sausage
2 eggs
1 chopped Onion
1/2 Chopped Julian Bell Pepper
1 handful of fresh chopped Parsley
1 pkg Ritz Crackers
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup Hoisin Sauce
1/4 cup Ketchup
2 tbsp Tempura Dipping Sauce (light soy sauce, water, vinegar, sugar and Lemon Juice mixed)
2 tbsp Sriracha Rooster Sauce
3 chopped Cloves of Garlic
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Thyme
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper

SPAGHETTI SAUCE
6 Roma Tomatoes
Handful of Fresh Parsley
5 Fresh Basil Leaves
2 Chopped Garlic Cloves
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp dried Rosemary
1 tbsp dried Thyme
1 tsp dried sage
1 cup Beef Stock or Bouillon
1/3 cup Red Wine Optional (Cabernet preferred)

1/2 pkg of Angel Hair pasta – Add Olive Oil and Salt to boiling water and cook noodles Al dente.

Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Mold 2 inch Meatballs on a pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Then Combine all the ingredients for the Spaghetti Sauce in a blender and Puree. In a Hot pan add 2 tbsp of butter, 2 chopped green onions, then add the Sauce and bring to a boil. Once the noodles are cooked al dente and strained, add some Olive Oil and place the Noodles in the Spaghetti Sauce. Reduce the Sauce until the noodles have almost completely absorbed all the liquid, then kill the heat. Add a shake of Thyme, Garlic Powder and some chopped black Olives, then plate your Spaghetti with Meatballs.

I’m a Pasta Fanatic… Aren’t You?

How Hard Can It Be

If you’re not eating fresh pasta YOU ARE CRAZY! Especially for the simple reason that it’s incredibly easy to make; not to mention the, “I can’t get enough fresh pasta” taste it leaves in your mouth after you’ve tossed the noodles in your favorite sauce. I had someone comment on my homemade pasta video a while back. They were so thankful for my simple little recipe. This person even went out and bought a little hand churned Pasta maker for like $20 or $30 bucks and mentioned that they were going to start cranking’ that dough out so they could even stalk up the freezer and have it ready to go down the road.

So let’s talk about it shall we? As you can see in this photo, I’ve got a pasta maker. It’s been sitting in my storage unit for a while because I’ve been on the road working lately, BUT, was able to pull it out recently and grace my family with a few dishes that involved some freshly made egg noodles. It doesn’t matter what you decide to make, whether it be Italian, Greek or some twist of your favorite Asian noodle dish, but one thing is for certain, if you’re pasta isn’t the right consistency, you are going to make a mess! Now this isn’t a contradiction to my theory that pasta is incredibly easy to make, NO! All I’m saying is, like anything else, you’ve just got to do it right!

You don’t have to follow my recipe by any means but I’ve laid out a basic instructional video for those of you that aren’t too familiar with making your own noodles and in fact don’t have any fancy gadgets or gizmos to “Get’R done”! The most important thing to know are two simple steps for the final outcome. ONE, make the dough Dense. TWO, when the dough is rolled out for the slicing of the noodles, make absolutely sure the dough is dusted with flour and dry enough to separate; otherwise you’ll have a sticky mess. Easy enough right? Now watch this video and you’ll see just how easy it really is from any Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen!

The Full written original recipe can be found here http://poormansgourmetkitchen.com/making-fresh-pasta-from-scratch.html

Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

The Best Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

This Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe is one of my favorite’s and making it from scratch is so easy you won’t believe it. To tell you the truth, my original intention was to make this a recipe Solly for the Alfredo because the flavor is so unreal, you’ll never buy Alfredo in a bottle again. In fact so many friends and family members have begged me for this recipe, so I have decided to just include it with my pasta dishes.

Understanding this Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

To fully understand Alfredo and how it can go wrong you’ve got to understand the ingredients that can screw it up. First off, with this Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe use Cream NOT Half and Half. Unless your on some major mission in your owning dieting this is a big no-no because it just won’t taste right. The second thing, is flour; use it very sparingly and don’t burn it when you stir with the butter and garlic. If you do, that flavor will spread through out the entire sauce and it will ruin it. In fact, the flour isn’t even a requirement to make the sauce it really just helps the reduction so it will thicken up faster. If you are patient, make the sauce with out, and then you won’t have to salt it either. That about cover’s the things that can go wrong, now let’s talk about what can go right! The beautiful thing about this recipe is you can own it and make it your own by adding any of your favorite pultry’s or shellfish directly to the sauce or topping it off after you stir in the pasta. Whether you’re making a Shrimp Alfredo recipe, or a chicken Alfredo recipe, it’s your choice. Just follow these easy steps and you are on your way to making the best Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe, Hands Down!

1 tbls. butter
1 tsp. flour
1 pinch of raw garlic
1 cup of cream
2 tbls Parmesan

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe Misconceptions

This is entirely just my opinion based only on my experience and personal tastes about the sauce its self; I mentioned earlier that the flour doesn’t have to be used when preparing this sauce; well that’ s true. In fact I believe the more you use it the more you kill the flavor and defeat the purpose the combination of the butter, garlic and cream are trying to create. Thus having to reconstitute with salts and other means to try and put flavor back into an already perfect sauce after it’s already been murdered! As you can see I’m a little passionate about this theory, but when you are cooking for just a few there is no reason to sacrifice this recipe by watering it down with flour. Now on the other hand it is an invaluable additive if you are going to be cooking for many because it will seem almost impossible to reduce and it will take forever without. Okay? Enough said. Reconstituting this sauce is easy and just takes a reheat on the stove or microwave; just make sure you add a vigorous stir because the sauce does separate and appears to be very fatty if you don’t. That being said, just make sure you take all of this into account when you decide what you are really trying to accomplish with this Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe.