We were quite a boring family when I grew up in North Platte, Nebraska. There just weren’t very many super exciting things for a Chinese immigrant family to do in the small town and we lived on a dirt road, across from the empty field lot, next to the traffic light in the middle of nowhere. Usually on weekends, we’d stay at home. But once every couple of months, when we were feeling a bit frisky and itchin’ for some variety, we’d all pack in our puke green Chevrolet Impala station wagon (complete with the lovely wood paneled sides) and drive to the nearest Asian market - Denver, Colorado, which was four and half hours away and four and a half hours back. It was good to be near our peeps, stock up on Asian ingredients and pick up a Chinese newspaper, our only link to what was happening back home. Oh, those were wild times. Read the full story

New friend, Deb Puchalla, who is Editor in Chief of Martha Stewart Living Magazine, is hosting a Zukes and Cukes party and this is what I’m bringing!

Instead of just stirring in basil leaves at the end like I normally do, this time I deep fried the basil leaves to create airy-light, brittle-crisp basil that elevates this dish to another level.

Describing Perfectly Cooked Shrimp

Previously, I asked you guys to describe the TEXTURE of perfectly cooked shrimp. In Cantonese, my Mom uses the phrase that’s pronounced “song chuy,” Japanese “puri-puri,” Singaporeans “QQ.”

There’s no English equivalent. Bummer.

The texture of perfectly cooked pasta is “al dente,” and we need to come up with a concise way to describe the texture/mouthfeel of perfectly cooked shrimp. Read the full story

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.

For all the low-carb fans, here is a great recipe. (come to think of it, I think the low-carb fad has come and gone, because I really don’t know anyone on a low-carb diet anymore) Anyways, its still a fun recipe nonetheless. Zucchini is cut into super-thin strips resembling spaghetti strands. Its flash-fried in a little olive oil, garlic and salt to taste. The texture is amazing and so different! Kids will have fun with this too. The spiral slicer machine thingy that makes the strands is called the Saladacco ($24.95) In addition to zucchini, you could do this to carrots, although you’d have to use really really FAT carrots (1.25″ diameter) otherwise it is impossibly difficult. I’ve found fat zucchini to work very well. A few cranks and zucchini comes out in beautiful, silky, light ribbons that just dance between your fingers.

Zucchini “Spaghetti”

4 large, fat zucchini, cut into strands using Saladacco spiral slicer and spread out on a baking sheet
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Heat fry pan over medium heat. Add a little olive oil (about 1 tsp). When oil is shimmering, add garlic, and fry until fragrant about 15 seconds. Turn heat to high. Add zucchini strands, str fry for 1 minute, Add salt and pepper flakes. Serve. Make sure you don’t cook the zucchini too long - or they will get mushy. You want the zucchini to still have some crunch to it. You could also add minced fresh herbs. But don’t add too many ingredients to this dish, its simplicity highlights the freshness of the vegetable.

I purchase my spices at www.spice-appeal.com. Their spices are high quality and come in beautiful containers. The spice blends are my favorite - a teaspoon totally transforms a dish from ordinary exotic. For these skewers, I used Ras El-Hanout, a Moroccan blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, rosebuds, pepper, ginger, allspice, turmeric, cloves, cardamom, chilies, lavender and other spices.

Moroccan Grilled Shrimp & Vegetable Skewers

Serves 6 1 lb shrimp, shelled, leave tail on
1 whole roasted red bell pepper from jar, cut 1″ squares
3 zucchini, cut into 1/2″ chunks
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 pint mushrooms
Bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes

Shrimp Marinade
3 T low-fat yogurt
2 tsp Ras El Hanout
salt & pepper

Vegetable Marinade
3 T olive oil
2 tsp Ras El Hanout salt & pepper

1. Marinate both shrimp and vegetables for 1 hour. In meantime, make sure the bamboo skewers are soaked so that they don’t burn.

2. Shrimp: Alternate shrimp and red bell pepper on skewer. Pre-heat BBQ grill. Grill 1 minute each side on med-high flame.

3. Vegetable: Alternate vegetables on each skewer. Grill 2-3 minutes each side on med-high flame.