Ricotta and Tomatoes Puff Pastry Galette

Last night I was getting hungry and I just needed a quick snack. I remembered we have puff pastry in the freezer and I never get to use it.

I was in the mood for something rather salty, but ironically the only cheese we had was ricotta (not so salty).

I just rolled the puff pastry on a clean surface, dusted with some flour and divided the patsry in 6 equal squares. I sprinkled some salt on the dough, made some tiny holes with a fork, so that ot won't puff to much while baking. Then, I just added some ricotta cheese and thin slices of tomatoes in the middle leaving the edges clear. Brush the edges with a beaten egg and seal them so that the juices don't spill in the oven. Garnish it with some basil leaves and in the oven it goes.

After just 20-25 min you have a great snack and I have to say it is actually quite filling. I liked it best warm to room temperature, but cold would also do if you want to make smaller galettes and pack it for work/school.

Enjoy,

100TH POST* Spaghetti al Pomodoro e Basilico (Tomato & Basil Pasta) *100TH POST

Tomato time again!!!You didn’t think I was done that easy with those beautiful fruits? Yeah, that’s right, tomatoes are actually fruits, big shocker, I know. Hey, you can even say I cooked a dessert.  This, combined with some Italian style basil-power, leads to very nice, fresh and absolutely delicious pasta recipe.

For the pasta, you already know how we do it and the fact that we prefer homemade over bought (when we have the time to make them). So for about 3 generous portions, we made some spaghetti out of 200 grams of white flour and 2 eggs. Besides this, we used 500 grams of tomatoes, about 1 big handful of basil leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Honestly, this recipe is incredibly easy and is something that anyone that wants to start cooking can make, with great results. 

The secrets for this recipe are: 1. The basil – use very fresh, whole basil leaves and be careful when you wash and pat them dry, don’t bruise them.

2. The tomatoes – use only ripe, bursting of flavor tomatoes, and if you’re using whole ones, make sure they are not bruised, or damaged.

For the tomatoes we activated “cute mode” in our kitchen. I mean, take a look at those tomatoes, what’s not to love about them. 

The incredible intense taste, the adorable colors, it’s summer in your plate. So, 500 grams of that yellow and red combo, the smaller ones I’ve left whole, the bigger ones I halved or quartered. Start up by heating some olive oil, add in you tomatoes and cook them on high heat for 5-7 minutes.

My idea was not to turn this into some kind of stew, make sure they keep their form (some of the already cut tomatoes will crumble, it’s OK), after which add the whole basil leaves, salt, pepper, cook for another minute, then add the pasta that you boiled meanwhile, turn off the heat and stir things in. 

  

Plate your delicious pasta, sprinkle with some freshly grated parmesan and have yourself to a wonderful, aromatic summer dish.

Enjoy,

Mr. G.

Silk Handkerchiefs Pasta with Pesto Genovese

There are moments when I am deciding what to cook when I feel like I have to do something incredibly traditional, something extremely old-school, and when I get it right, for me, it’s an incredible accomplishment. 

This recipe is truly without the shadow of a doubt one of the great classics and, although this type of pasta may not be used on a big scale such as spaghetti or tagliatelle, it has an incredible elegance and beauty to it.

If you want to try this, I beg of you, do it all yourself: the pasta, the pesto, create it from scratch, don’t cut any corners by buying lasagna strips of pasta or canned pesto, trust me, the result will be worth it.

For the pasta, I used 250 grams of type 000 flour (for reasons beyond my understanding the 00 type has gone missing from stores) 1 egg and 2 yolks. The process of working the dough is the same as before, the difference being that the resulting dough will be more compact, robust and with a silkier feel (and also, more yellow). 

Be careful though, the pasta can be rather heavy on the stomach, so be prepared with some good, chilled Soave Clasico. You want to roll your dough until it is thin enough to be blown of the table. Just try and blow under the pasta sheet to see if it lifts; if so, that’s the thickness you need (in case you’re using a pasta machine, roll it up until the 9 mark). Take your pasta sheet and just break it into tiny squares, in a handkerchief like shape (or just cut it like that, breaking it is more fun), and boil it in salted water for 2-3 minutes, that’s all it takes.

For the pesto: 90 grams of basil leaves, 30 grams of pine nuts (toasted), 1 garlic clove, 70 grams of grated Parmiggiano, salt and good quality olive oil (I used the unfiltered kind for my pesto). Put the washed and dried basil leaves (be careful with them when washing, make sure you let them dry and not try and force the leaves, they lose their flavor like that) in a large enough mortar and start crushing them with a circular move with  a pestle, for 1 minute. Add the garlic and pine nuts and keep crushing them with the pestle until the garlic is nice and mashed in the pesto.

After this, add the cheese and crush some more, adding olive oil in the end to bring everything together. The amount of olive oil used should be enough to bind the ingredients and not take over the basil or be in such a quantity that the pesto is submerged in it. 

Regarding the salt, you can go 2 ways: use some coarse salt when adding the garlic, it will help you crush the ingredients better, or, if you’re scared you’re going to go overboard because of the cheese being also salty, wait until the end and added it there. 

So, a superb classic Italian that, for me at least, brought a very nice feeling of accomplishment when completed, hope it does the same for you.

Have a great weekend,
Mr. G.