A few weeks ago, I was doing prepping in the studio kitchen for a class called “Creative Healthy Cooking” for that evening. On the menu were light, fresh dishes such Creamy Corn Soup, Zucchini “Spaghetti” and Roasted Cauliflower.

The back restaurant kitchen door swings open, out comes one of the restaurant’s cooks with two steaming hot plates of creamy, yummy, pasta. One for him…and one for not me. They sat right in front of me as I was cutting the kernals off the corn cob for the soup.

This was their conversation:

“Wow, this creamy pasta is so delicious! What’s in it?”

”A pint of heavy cream”

“Yum! Its so rich and luscious! This is the best pasta I’ve ever had!”

“Duh…there’s a pint of cream in it.”

Focus. Focus. I love corn. I love healthy. Thin feels better than fat tastes. Focus. Be one with the corn. Cream is pure evil.

I. Can’t. Help. Myself. Come. To. The. Fat. Side. Luke.

(*@!&$#(!%Y!@!!!

GIMMEE GIMMEE GIMMEE!!!

I grabbed the biggest serving spoon and helped myself. I bribed them with cash not to tell my Creative Healthy Cooking Class students.

Pasta with Cajun Cream Sauce

If I could only choose one creamy pasta sauce, this would be my favorite. What makes this pasta sauce so luscious is (well, ok other than the cream) is one word: reduction. Reducing a sauce evaporates liquid and concentrates the flavors. This recipes includes two different reductions. When I go out to eat at an Italian restaurant, nothing bugs me more than ordering a crème based sauce and what shows up is so much crème that it feels like I’m drinking the pasta. Because of the reduction in this recipe, the cream just hugs the pasta. Now, I’m not advocating that you eat like this every day.

Sometimes, just sometimes, you need something to soothe your soul A bowl of something to prop on your lap while curled up on the couch watching Grey’s Anatomy. Plus, if you garnish with something green and healthy like I did, it just might make you feel a little bit better…even if it is only 3 miniscule broccoli florets.

1 pound dry pasta
1 pint heavy cream
2 T olive oil
2 T minced garlic
½ cup chopped onion
1 T Cajun seasoning
1 T Smoked sweet paprika seasoning
2 tsp salt
1 cup white wine fresh ground pepper
1 T freshly chopped parsley Parmesan cheese
2 T tomato paste
1 tsp chicken base (optional)

In large stockpot, boil water for pasta.

In a large sauté pan, heat 2 T olive oil over medium heat. When shimmering, add onions. Fry for 2 minutes. Add garlic, fry additional 1 minute until fragrant. Add the white wine and chicken base (stir chicken base in the wine first & mix well before adding to pan.)

Using your spatula, scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Let the wine reduce to half – about 3 minutes. In the meantime, boil your pasta, ending one minute shy of done.

Add Cajun seasoning, salt, pepper, paprika and tomato paste. Stir.

Add heavy cream. When the cream mixture is almost bubbling, turn heat to low. Let the crème mixture reduce to half – about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta well – add pasta to the crème sauce. Toss with freshly chopped parsley and some cheese. Eat. Have seconds.

Hand-made pasta at home seems like a luxury, but it only costs $2 in ingredients. It does make a mess in your kitchen, but with the right tools, it only takes a 15 minutes to make the pasta itself and another 45 minutes to make the ravioli.

The right tools include a fork and a KitchenAid with pasta attachment. Sometimes I use the food processor to start the dough (instead of just the fork), but its more of a hassle to clean the darn appliance than anything. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve nicked myself with that massively sharp blade. I’d much rather use the fork - at least I can’t poke myself to death.

Some people think hand-made pasta sounds so difficult, but it actually is fairly straightforward and simple. Last night, I taught a class how to make fettucine and two different kinds of ravioli. Not one of them had ever made pasta before, and the results were delicious. Here is the recipe for one of them.

Roasted Vegetable Ravioli with Crispy Pancetta showcases the freshness of the vegetables in season with a light, brothy, lemony sauce. The pancetta adds texture and smokiness. Use whatever vegetables are in season.

The key to making pasta is not to use too much flour at first. You can always add more flour if the dough is sticky, but once the dough is dry, its difficult to add more moisture. The basic pasta recipe below makes about 2 dozen ravioli, enough to feed 4.

Basic Pasta Recipe

4 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 T olive oil

1. Start with the flour - measure and just place all of it in a nice mound on your clean countertop. Using your fingers, make a hole in the middle of the mound, and form a well large enough to hold 4 eggs. Crack eggs, one by one into the well. 2. Now its time to use your fork. Start in the middle of the egg mixture and gently beat the eggs. Be careful - don’t let the walls break down! Keep beating the eggs, incorporating the flour a little at a time. Keep going until it becomes thick. Now with your fork, start stirring in the flour. Great - you’re almost there. When it gets to the point where you can’t use the fork anymore, use your palms and knead, adding more flour if it gets too sticky. You might not use all your flour, thats ok. Knead for 8-10 minutes more, until the dough is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest while you prepare the roasted vegetables.

Roasted Vegetable Ravioli with Crispy Pancetta

serves 4

ravioli filling:
1 lg zucchini
1/2 red bell pepper
1 lg carrot
1 lg portabella mushroom
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
1 tsp minced garlic
2 T olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

sauce:
5 thin slices of Pancetta
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 corn, kernals cut off
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

1 recipe of Basic Pasta Recipe (above)
1 egg with 1 T water (egg wash)

1. Roast the Veggies: Preheat oven to 375. Cut each vegetable into smaller pieces. The more tender veggies (zucchini) can be cut into larger chunks. Hard vegetables (carrots) into smaller chunks. Basically, you want all the vegetables to roast evenly. Roast 10-15 minutes, until soft. Remove from oven, place in food processor. In food processor (or you could just chop with your knife like I do) - pulse 4-5 times until the vegetables are 1/4″ small dice (still a little chunky but not a puree). You want the vegetables to still have some texture. Add parmigiano reggiano, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pulse one more time to incorporate rest of ingredients. Set aside.

2. Roll the Pasta: Divide the pasta dough into 4 equal parts. Cover whatever dough you are not using with damp towel or plastic wrap. You are going to use 1 portion of the dough at a time and keep the rest covered. Using your KitchenAid with pasta attachment OR the pasta hand-crank, roll pasta dough to about 1 mm thick - usually to the second to last setting on pasta machine.  Sheets should be about 6″ wide x 30″ long. Dust sheets with extra flour if it feels a little sticky. Set sheets aside, cover.

3. Make the Ravioli: Using a 1T sized measuring spoon, scoop scant tablespoon of vegetable mixture onto the pasta sheet - leaving about 1 1/2 inch between each spoonful. Brush egg wash on edges and in between the spoonfuls. Place another pasta sheet on top, pressing lightly on the edges in between -try to get as much air out as possible. Use a small knife, pizza cutter or pleated ravioli cutter to cut the ravioli into nice, even squares, about 2-1/2″ square. Make sure each has a tight seal - if the ravioli is not sealed, the filling will leak out and your ravioli will be ruined. Place each ravioli onto a baking sheet, dusting with flour to avoid them sticking to each other. Repeat until you use all the pasta sheets. Take a 8qt stockpot filled with 6qts of water and 1 T salt; boil. While water is boiling, make the sauce.

4. Make the Sauce: Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the slices of pancetta. Cook pancetta until crisp. Remove pancetta with tongs to plate and crumble. (leave the pan drippings in the pan!) Keep the heat on the pan and add the garlic. Fry 15 seconds. Add the chicken stock and wine, scraping up the bits in the pan. Add corn kernals. Simmer on low until sauce is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice into the sauce. Turn off heat and set aside.

5. Boil the Ravioli: Slip ravioli into the boiling water. Return to boil, immediately turn heat to medium low. Cook ravioli in gently boiling water for another 3-4 minutes, until pasta is tender (fish a ravioli out and test to see if corner is done). Drain. Serve with the sauce, top with crumbled pancetta and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

When I only have 30 minutes to make dinner, this is a favorite to make. The secret to great sauce is to use 1 teaspoon of sugar in the sauce. The sugar softens out the bite of the tomatoes, and yields a rounder, less acidic, and more mellow tomato flavor. I also use Italian crushed tomatoes labeled “San Marzano” - the flesh is thicker and richer tasting than regular plum tomatoes. The tomatoes are grown in the volcano soil next to Mount Vesuvius in Italy. While that sounds so romantic, quaint and exotic, they are really only $2.29 for a 28oz can at your local market.

The Italian sausage that I use is freshly made at my local market - they usually come in a package of 5 sausages, its pre-seasoned and so convenient. I just squeeze the sausage out of the casing and use it like ground sausage or you could use scissors to snip them into smaller chunks.

This is such an easy recipe and leftover sauce is even better the next day. The ingredients just seem to settle and get cozy with each other overnight. As always, use good Parmesan cheese to finish.  The best compliment?  When my Italian friends come over and request my Spaghetti for supper.

My Favorite 30-Minute Spaghetti

yields a big ‘ol potful….enough for 6-8 people
for GF - use GF pasta

3/4 lb Fresh Italian sausage - remove sausage from casing
1 T minced garlic
1 small onion, minced
2- 28oz cans Italian crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
2 bay leaves
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt ground pepper

1. In a large pot over medium heat, add the sausage when the pot is hot. Fry the sausage until nicely browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add onions and garlic - fry 2 more minutes, stirring frequently so that nothing burns.

2. Add all remaining ingredients. Simmer for 25 minutes on low heat. Stir the pot every so often. Taste - adjust salt and pepper.  Is it still too acidic? Meaning, when you taste it, is there too sharp of a tomato flavor?  Add another teaspoon of sugar.

3. While sauce is simmering, boil a pot of water and cook spaghetti according to package directions. If you have fresh basil, mince and add to sauce before serving. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.