Recipe to Riches? Unfortunately for me it was more like Recipe to Red Wine Binge.

I cooked, I went, I lost :(

Soooooooooo....I dared to try out for this recipe to riches contest yesterday.  If you are a true foodie like moi you should have heard about it as its been all over Food Network for the past couple months.  Basically its an amateur chefs version of American Idol.  You enter a recipe and compete against other people to win some cash and the privilege of having your dish made into an actual product for Presidents Choice.  After alotttt of waiting yesterday, I was finally put infront of the judges (Laura Calder being one - someone I usually watch most mornings on French Food at Home), and within seconds the dream was crushed.  stomped on, pulverized, punched in the face, and basically raped.   Something I was shamefully unaware of - apparently butter sauces can not be used for frozen entrees (one of the prerequisites for this competition as it would be turned into a PC frozen entree). TAKE NOTE PEOPLE - if you find yourself in a similar situation at some point in your cooking lives - stay weary of the butter sauces!

So there it was - butternut squash, ricotta & sweet honey ravioli in sage BUTTER with orange zest - pushed aside for something a little more PC friendly.  I took my loser tush down to the lobby bar post rejection with some of my fan squad and drowned my sorrows in my best friend of all - booze.

If any of my lovely readers would care to boost my shot ego back up - feel free to try this original recipe of mine that was sadly dismissed by Laura Calder and co.

Butternut Squash, Ricotta & Sweet Honey Ravioli with Sage Butter & Orange Zest

Servings: makes approximately 18 ravioli

Ingredients for the filling:

1 medium butternut squash (approximately 1 ½ lbs)

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

4 tbsp honey

250g ricotta cheese

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

Ingredients for the dough:

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

4 large eggs

Ingredients for the sauce:

8 tbsp unsalted butter

16 fresh sage leaves

¼ tsp Kosher salt

2 pinches of brown sugar

Zest from one large orange

Garnish:

Sprinkle of finely chopped parsley

Fresh orange zest

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the butternut squash length-wise and remove seeds with a spoon.  Place both halves, face up, on a baking sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the honey.  Season generously with salt and pepper and then roast for 1 hour until tender.

When the squash is done, remove from the oven and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.  Add the ricotta cheese, nutmeg, cinnamon and the final tablespoon of honey and mash.  Taste for seasoning and set aside.

To make fresh dough for the ravioli, pour your flour into a small hill and then create a well in the centre.  Crack the eggs into the center and gently beat them together.  Using a fork, slowly incorporate the flour from the walls of the well into the eggs.  Be sure not to break the walls of the well.  Once the dough has reached a consistency where it does its not runny, use your hands to begin kneading the dough with the palms of your hands, slowly adding more flour as needed.  Work the dough for 3-5 minutes until it is one cohesive ball.  Wrap in saran wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.  Use a pasta machine to roll out the dough into thin sheets (the first setting).

Use a round pastry cutter (or the top of a water glass if you don’t have one), and cut rounds out for the ravioli.  On a lightly floured surface, scoop 1 tsp of filling into the center of a ravioli round and using your finger, gently boarder the edges of the round with some warm water.  Place a second round over the first and, pressing all the air out, seal up the edges into a neat, circular ravioli!  Repeat this process until you run out of rounds.

Cook the ravioli in salted boiling water for about 2-3 minutes (they will start to rise).  At the same time, melt the butter in a pan at medium heat and then add the sage, salt, orange zest and brown sugar.

Plate the ravioli and spoon out some of the butter sauce on each plate.  

Pappardelle with Carbonara, Spring Peas & Mint

This dish quickly became a fan favorite for hubs.  He's a big carbonara fan and this recipe has a nice little twist on the original dish by adding an incredible freshness with the mint.  Makes for a fantastic spring dish.  Or (as I did), bring a little spring flavor to your table this February as the streets pile higher with ugly brown, dirty snow, the vicious winds blow the tarps away that are covering your patio furniture, and Jack Frost taps at your window just waiting to give you frost bite. (Does anyone else hate winter as much as I do? I'm thinking no).

Nevertheless this baby's a keeper.

You will need (serves 4):
500g of Pappardelle (I prefer egg pasta)
1 1/2 cups of fresh peas
1 egg
200 ml cream
12 - 15 slices of thick smokey bacon (chopped)
3 sprigs of fresh mint (roughly chopped, leaves only, plus more for garnish)
2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt & fresh ground pepper

To begin, in a mid size bowl whisk the egg and cream with a dash of salt and pepper.  In a large pan, cook your bacon until slightly crisp and golden.  At the same time, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pappardelle.

When the pasta is almost cooked, reserve a little bit of the cooking water and then add the peas to the pan with the bacon for 1 minute and then turn off the heat.  Add your pasta and stir in your mint.   Next, quickly mix in the egg and cream mixture *(note: you need to do this while the pasta is still hot so the residual heat from the pasta will slightly cook the egg but not to the point that they turn into scrambled eggs.)  You should have a nice smooth sauce.  If you need to, add a couple tablespoons of the reserved cooking water.  Add your parmesan cheese and some more freshly ground pepper.  Garnish with some mint and some more cheese, serve & enjoy!

xo Chef Natty

Garliky, Peppery, Oniony, Chili...y, Rapini Linguine!

Big shout out to Daddy-O for introducing this baby to me.  There is just something about the fabulous mixture of the bitterness from the rapini, with the sweetness of the peppers, with the saltiness from the cheese and a little heat from the chili's that make this pasta an absolute flavor explosion in your lucky lucky mouth.  A little tip for my bloggy lovers - if you have never had reheated leftover pasta before - this is the recipe to try it out with.  And no I don't mean pushing start on the microwave reheating, I mean sizzling up your leftovers in a pan with some olive oil on high heat so it gets that niccceeee crisp.  The flavours are more pronounced, the pasta has an amazing texture and i'm not even kidding, sometimes it's even better than eating it fresh!  However, in order to "reheat" leftovers, you've gotta make the dish first so let's take it one step at a time shall we.

Ladies and Gents.... I'd like to present you with this special gift of a recipe... Pasta a la Natola

You will need: (Serves 4)
500g good quality linguine pasta
2 bunches of Rapini (Broccoli Rabe)
2 Red Bell Peppers (sliced thinly, lengthwise)
1 Large Spanish Onion (roughly chopped)
1 Head of Garlic (chopped)
2-3 tsp dried chili peppers
A generous handful of grated Parmesan cheese - plus more for serving
EVOO
Sea Salt
Fresh ground pepper

To start, fill up a steamer pot with 2 inches of water, place your rapini in the steamer insert, bring to a boil, cover and steam!

While your rapini is steaming, bring a separate pot of salted water to a boil for your pasta.   At the same time, in a large deep bottom pan, add 3 tbsp of EVOO and saute your onions and garlic on medium high heat until slightly soft (about 3 minutes), add your peppers and chili peppers and some salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat until the onions and peppers are soft.

When the rapini has steamed and is cool enough to handle, roughly chop it and then add it to your pepper mixture.  Add some more EVOO if needed.  When your pasta is cooked al dente, all it to the pan, add your handful of parmesan cheese and toss thoroughly.  Serve with some extra parm on top and voila!

Serve and Enjoy :)


Chef Tip:
For day-after reheating,  simply add a couple tablespoons of EVOO into a hot pan,  add your pasta and let it sit (untouched) for a few minutes before stirring (this way you get a nice light brown crust on the noodles).

xo Chef Natty