Friendships, Old & New

I have been pondering the importance of my friendships with women lately...good ones that span decades are so rare in our day and age, and I treasure those that have stood the test of time. And I'm not talking about my Facebook friendships. Real ones. Ones that sit and cry with you when you suffer loss or are struggling. Ladies that rejoice with you when good things happen in your family. Friends that are on the same page in life, marriage, faith and family. God has given me several people like this and each one is a treasure to be carefully guarded. My friend Becca is one of these people. She has TEN kids, is a gifted wife, mom and friend to many. (You can have a lovely peek into how she does it here.) Her oldest daughter and my youngest daughter are besties for life. They are both in college now, and Becca and I miss our girls all the time...they have become our good friends as they have matured.

Ellie, Mary Kate, & Caroline

But she's got lots more kiddos at home still, and these three lovelies round out the female contingent of their tribe. When my kids (and I only have 4) were younger, Becca and I were both home schooling. She is still in the thick of it with the last 4 or 5 children, but mine are all out of the house and in college or married. Our families have known each other a long, long time, and I love that these girls wanted to come and hang out with me while their parents were out of town. We had a little sleepover and had some fun learning new things. I felt like a home school mom again! I guess in a way, I was their substitute teacher for the day.

When they arrived, it was close to dinner time, so we commenced making pasta. With me, everything is a learning opportunity (our home school motto was "Always Learning!" and we were constantly repeating that phrase, much to our children's chagrin, I'm sure) so I thought making pasta would be a fun and practical way to make dinner together. I've written about making pasta several times on this blog, so I won't go into the details, but just share these fun photos of our floury adventure.

Mary Kate learned some knife skills and helped make a filling. Ellie and Caroline became pretty adept at shaping, filling, sealing and cutting ravioli and tortellini.

    

Bedtime, and 8-year-old Mary Kate made herself a little perch, like the princess that she is. No fear at all about sleeping in a new place, in a big bed all by herself! She just got out her Bible, set a lamp on the bed and settled herself in. In the morning, she made up her bed and left the room spotless. I noticed that she enjoyed most of the treats in the "Welcome" basket, too. ;)

In the morning, we had breakfast together, and started working on a little bit of schoolwork. It was mostly fun, though, and we decided that we covered the following subjects:

• Home Economics (pasta making, knife skills, crochet lesson)
• PE (we walked around Pittsboro from our lunch venue to the building permit office in the COLD)
• Math (we had to calculate the egg-flour ratio per person)
• Writing (I had the girls write guest posts for this blog about their experiences - see below!)
• Creative Arts (I am getting ready to start construction on a new home for our neighborhood, so Caroline, Ellie and Mary Kate each made a plan for the exterior finishes, choosing siding, windows, stone, roof shingles and paint colors)
• Italian (we discussed culture and language and learned a few new words like macchina di pasta, al dente, and molto bene! As you will see below, the concept of al dente - 'to the tooth' made a huge impression!)

Here is what the girls had to say about making pasta:

"I didn't think making pasta was so fun if you don't know what you're doing. Having Mrs. Metty guide me and my siblings through all the steps made me enjoy cooking so much more. I loved making the dough for the pasta and putting it in the pasta machine. The best part was eating it! It wasn't crunchy or soggy but just right! I don't think I have ever eaten better pasta before!"

"My favorite thing about making pasta was sending the dough through the machine. It took a while for me to get it right but soon it got more fun. The ravioli was really fun. I liked the part when you wrapped it up in the dough. It tasted fantastic especially when Mrs. Metty put the oil on it. I am soooo glad I got to make it with Mrs. Metty. She is such a good cook." (aw, thanks!)

"My favorite thing I liked about making pasta was that the ravioli was sweet and noodle-y. The thing I liked about the pasta was it had a little bite to it and it was just so, so good. All of it was so good."

I have a chalkboard wall in my bonus room and invited the girls to clean it up and leave a new message...I love what they decided to write! 

I loved getting to know these three darlings just a little bit more on this visit. I feel like their Auntie, and they have enriched my life!

Flour + Eggs = Pasta!

(This post is the second on pasta...find the first here.)

Simple food. Preparation easy enough to afford the cook some much needed quality time with the people she (or he) is feeding. If you are too exhausted from cooking to enjoy the people you are serving, then it's too complicated. Do the French spend ANY time with their families after their Oscar worthy culinary performances?

Ah, but the Italians. Now they have absolutely mastered the marriage of simple ingredients, amazing food and wine, great conversation, and the ability to include everyone within smelling distance in the warmth of their homes and love. When I lived in Italy, if there was one thing I wanted to soak up like a thirsty sponge, it was this lovely symphony of kitchen skills.

La mama is truly the heart of the home. I know, I know...women aren't the only great cooks. And I know, not all, not even many, women want to be relegated to this familial duty, but I relish it, and hope to share this passion with others. 

      

So, pasta. Yep, all there is to it is flour and eggs. And la macchina. Must have one of these:

<--------------------------

There are many brands now in the US, and they are not too hard to find. We devoted a cooking lesson to this skill and the next day, my girls swooped in and gobbled up every pasta machine in town! 

I'll try and explain the process here, but like with a lot of things, you've just got to get your hands dirty and try it. 

Step 1: For two people, use one egg and approximately 1 heaping cup of flour. Start by whisking the egg with a fork in a small bowl. While continuing to whisk the egg, sprinkle flour slowly into the bowl. Soon the mixture will become too stiff to continue with the fork, so just start using your hands. When it is right, it will form a very stiff dough, not unlike sugar cookie dough. Cover with a damp cloth on a floured countertop or towel until you are ready to use it. 

Step 2: Using a pastry scraper or large knife, cut off a piece of dough about the size of a golf ball. Cover the unused dough with the damp cloth. Set the pasta machine at the lowest setting; on mine, it's #1. Place the dough in the top of the machine, between the rollers and crank the handle clockwise to squeeze the dough through. This two-handed technique takes a little practice. Fold it over and do it again. Do this 7 or 8 times, till the dough is very smooth. Then continue to do this, changing the setting to higher and higher numbers (without folding) until you are ready to use it. You will have a long narrow (perhaps 3"-4" wide) sheet.

Step 3: Once you have rolled it, lay it out on a floured towel or cotton tablecloth. You then have a couple of options. You can cut it into fettuccine or spaghetti with the attachment on your pasta machine (this requires only one trip through the machine). OR you can form the sheets into stuffed delicacies (which sadly, make this simple process a whole lot more complicated, but fun, and you can rally the troops to help!). For fettuccine, arrange the ribbons into little 'nests' and sprinkle them with a tiny bit of flour. Give them a little shuffle every few minutes while you work the rest of your dough. This will keep it from sticking together.

Step 4: (Simple, fettuccine) If you are not making ravioli, tortellini, agnolotti, or any number of other exotic sounding stuffed pastas, then it's time to cook. Bring a large pot of salted water to a slow boil, and drop the nests into the water for just a few minutes, no more than 3 or 4. Drain and serve on heated plates or pasta bowls. 

Add a bit of your favorite sauce (another lesson) and enjoy. Anything is good...marinara, pesto, bolognese, puttanesca, vodka...whatever. The sauce is not the main attraction anyway, right?

My husband and I make an event out of this on Saturday nights. We turn on our favorite Andrea Bocelli tunes (which has to include "Mille Lune, Mille Onde" one of the most romantic songs EVER), open a bottle of wine, light a few candles, shave the parmigiano reggiano, slice up some really good dried sausage, get out the olives and grapes, and set the table. He sings. We drink and snack on the antipasti. Sometimes we dance and kiss. I make the pasta. He rubs my shoulders. If it's warm, all the better so we can spend the evening outside. 

And on a wintry night in January, a few young ladies came over and we had a lesson. We actually did make ravioli with a chicken, sausage and goat cheese filling. Here are some photos from that really fun night!

          

                           

And my really clean kitchen...which didn't happen til the next morning!

Dutch Oven Bread

Ever feel late to the party? I've been married, with a fairly well-stocked kitchen for over 27 years. I've raised 4 kids, fed lots of their hungry friends, hosted Thanksgiving for as many as 50, and had gobs of parties. But I've never owned a real enamel-covered cast iron Dutch oven. Until about 2 months ago.

My daughter Abby got one for an early wedding present back in the spring, and started talking it up. I knew that if I was ever going to master the art of French cooking and make Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, I'd have to own one, but I never expected to cut my grocery bill practically in half because of it!


I buy a LOT of crusty Italian bread, and at $4 a loaf, it's hard to watch it get consumed so rapidly after exiting the grocery bag. So when Abbs told me that I can make a perfect country loaf in my new Dutch oven for pennies, I was pretty - as she likes to say - stoked (where did that expression come from anyway...I think I've always thought it was a reference to smoking pot...is it???). Why did I wait so long to get my hands of one of these hefty little gems? Why didn't anyone tell me about its miracle little steam oven capabilities?

I had a recipe from a Cucina Italiana magazine once for making that bread...you know, the kind with crust so sharp it cuts your gums, but the inside is soft and chewy, and makes those sore gums worth it. But that method required all kinds of pseudo-masochistic techniques like opening a 500 degree oven and spraying it with water occasionally! And lots of risings, and kneading...what a pain. People would have given up on making bread generations ago if it was always this complicated. Surely there was a simpler way.

Making its rounds on Pinterest, Mark Bittman of the New York Times apparently published an article about the Dutch oven method several years ago (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html?ref=dining), promising that it might transform the bread baking industry. If transforming means demystifying and bankrupting the bread baking industry because all kinds of average people were making something just as perfect, well then, yes, I'd say it's been transformed.

It takes some fore-thought, but it is SO worth it. I purchased World Market's version of a 4-quart Dutch oven (enameled cast iron - it's heavy) for $40, at least a third the cost of Le Creuset, and just as good. But other sizes, and even just plain old cast iron will work, too. A lid is a must; you will basically be creating a mini-steam oven within your regular oven.

The method is quite simple: Mix 3 cups of flour with 1/4 teaspoon of yeast, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 cups water with a wooden spoon in a large bowl (it will be super wet, impossible to knead...don't worry!). Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-18 hours. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees; place empty covered Dutch oven in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, to prepare the pot for the baking. Meanwhile, dump dough onto a heavily floured countertop, and sort of mound into a large ball as best you can...it is still pretty wet - I am not shy with the flour at this stage. When the pot is heated, unceremoniously gather up the the dough as best you can and place it into the ungreased, preheated Dutch oven. Place back in the 450 oven for 30 minutes with the lid on. Then remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes. IT WILL BE PERFECT. You will feel like a CHAMP. And you will never be able to pay $4 for an Italian boule ever again.

Thanks to my newlywed daughter Abby for this inspiration and teaching me a new skill!

The Humble Lentil

As I've mentioned before, we have lived in Italy twice: once in the late 1980s and again, in the first year of this new millenium. Such rich cultural experiences can be had by living, not just visiting, overseas. Both times (and these opportunities were related to my husband's work) we determined to immerse ourselves in Italian life. We studied the language and tried to be culturally sensitive. We spent time in our neighbors' homes. Our kids played with an assortment of Francescas and Federicos. We ate Italian food, attended their festivals, and drank a LOT of cappuccinos, er, um, cappuccini.

Here in North Carolina, a traditional meal for New Year's Day is black-eyed peas. Eat 365 black-eyed peas for 365 days of good luck. In Italy, it's lentils. Indeed, it would be easier to eat 365 lentils. I didn't grow up in either place, so I've no attachment to the traditions, but it's always nice to have a good go-to recipe for these things if the mood strikes.

 So, in honor of the new year, our first cooking night involved this humble legume. Inexpensive, mineral and vitamin rich, and available in many colors, these high-fiber jewels need little introduction. But American diets don't typically contain them. I am not sure when I ate my first lentils, but I can guarantee it was well into my adult life.

Menu:

Lentil Stew with Sausage and Tortellini

Cornbread (homemade this time)

Assorted Pickles and Olives

Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

My dear friend, Ana, also spent many years in Europe and introduced me to this wonderful recipe. I invited a crowd to help me cook this time, and we had many new faces. This recipe is easily multiplied and accompanied by cornbread and finger food, makes a hearty and well-rounded meal. It was a cold night when we cooked together, so a warm apple crisp with ice cream was perfect to go with this comforting soup. Becca, of Puerto Rican cooking night fame, chimed in, with "let's make more of the 'goody'!" She was talking about the topping to make apple, well, crisp. So we doubled the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and, well, she was right! It was super-wonderful.

Cannelini and Personality Types

"Hold up a cooking implement!"

Monday night cooking night...this time we have the usual suspects: Caroline, Becca, and the Jessies (though Stacey and Abby, of course! were greatly missed); but we're expanding with some welcome additions! Emily and Kristen joined us for the 'lesson' and of course, there's always a boy involved who somehow gets invited to the consuming part. That's fine. A way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? And I've always said one of the most satisfying things in life is feeding hungry boys. :)

So, tonight, we're making Cannelini e Gamberetti (white beans and shrimp in a tomato sauce) and Calzone Fritti (fried calzone). Lots of instruction and demonstration on how to hold a chef's knife, popping little cherry tomatoes without squirting them all over the stovetop, kneading, keeping an even temp while deep frying, etc. Everybody's hands were busy and messy.

I loved this particular menu because it incorporates so many basic skills: chopping, mixing and kneading of a basic yeast dough, fundamentals of frying, utilizing the necessary ingredients in any great Italian sauce, peeling shrimp, dispelling fear of using too much olive oil ("don't be shy with the olive oil"). And in the end, you have this lovely, visually-appealing-long-before-it-hits-your-tastebuds platter of delight. And the fried calzone...ahhh, is there anything better than fried dough? Seems every culture has its version. And this has the added pleasure of cheese and ham tucked inside.

With so many bright young minds in the room, what could be better than ending a great meal with stimulating conversation? Tonight's topic? Personality types. We discovered several obvious ones in the room - The Enthusiast, The Individualist, The Achiever, The Reformer. I love the multi-generational nature of being with these girls. They challenge the way I think, and bring fresh ideas to the table. This age-segregation thing is not for me; bring on the twenty-somethings! (At least they'll tell me when I'm wearing something ridiculous!)