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:

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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!

A Son's Wedding

Well, it happened. We married off one of our children. Our second-born, Jon married Stacey a week before Christmas in a lovely outdoor ceremony. It was a beautiful moment in time; a life-time of reward in one 30 minute ceremony. When your kids are young, their weddings seem so far away. On those days when they are throwing things at their little brothers or forgetting to do their Chemistry homework, a mother wonders if they will ever be mature and responsible enough to be married. So it is quite rewarding to watch that son grow into maturity, taking on responsibility for themselves, loving a woman, and asking her to be his partner for life. The words spoken on that day are for life, and a covenant is made. It was a momentous day, full of tears and joy and laughter. I laid my head on my husband's shoulder as Stacey walked down the aisle with her dad, and tried to drink in the moment. My handsome son was up front watching with baited breath as his beautiful bride came to him on her daddy's arm. They gazed into each others eyes and committed themselves for life. They prayed together and exchanged rings. Then we ate and danced and sent them off on their new life together. They have set up housekeeping nearby, and are just so adorable.

As a mom, I just continue to revel in the blessing. We sometimes go through very rough times watching our children grow up. They can make really bad decisions and we hate to see them suffer. We hope for the best in their lives, but they sometimes choose the worst for themselves. We spend countless hours on our knees, asking God to protect them and preserve them for His purposes. We watch them hurt other people in their immaturity and hold our breath until they make it right.

But then, they blossom. They start to say "thank you" more often. They offer to help. They pay for your lunch out together. They apologize. They become good citizens. They serve their community. They lead others. It's just amazing.

So far, my fondest memory of the last few weeks has been one afternoon when I had stopped by Jon and Stacey's apartment. Jon was home, but Stacey was still on her way. He looked out of the window the same time Stacey's bus pulled up some distance away. He said, "oh, there's her bus. Hmmm, I wonder if she'll come right home or if she'll stop and pick up the mail. Oh, she's taking the shortcut." He watched her every move, all the way to the apartment door, then he eagerly opened it, kissed her hello and brought her in from the cold. It was absolutely precious. So much love. I am so proud of him. And so happy for them both.

A Lesson in Romance

Ahh...February 14th...what young husband doesn't stress over what to do on this special day? What are the expectations? As a young wife, we want to be pampered, remembered and celebrated, but truthfully girls - we sometimes expect our man to be Mr. Perfect on this day. I can remember many times as a young wife, being unreasonably disappointed because Mr. Metty didn't read my mind! We've been married 25 years, and there have been some amazing Valentine's Days and some not so great.

So, my dear hubby had this stroke of genius: why don't we combine our passion for cooking (especially the romantic Italian variety), use our spacious great room and convert our home into a romantic Italian candlelit restaurant. We'll invite six young couples, only tell the husbands, and let them build up the excitement of a surprise evening out. They were instructed to take care of everything from childcare, to helping their wives find a suitable black or red dress, to talking it up for two weeks beforehand. Our part was the cooking, serving and creating an environment conducive to building a lasting memory that will be a chapter in their love story.

So Mama Metty is married to Papa Metty, who has a thing or two to share with the next generation of great husbands. We learned a long time ago that the anticipation of an event is sometimes as fun or more fun than the actual event. So ladies (since it's probably only ladies reading this), take note: you'd do well to gently tell your man how much you appreciate him keeping a little secret now and then, and giving you hints until it's time to reveal. Kirk used to keep a little list going at his office of great ideas for dates. He'd try to get me to guess what he was cooking up, and everything I guessed went right on that list! Pretty clever!

So, did I get anything romantic out of this Valentine's Day? Absolutely. Every time Kirk sent a note out to the husbands, he practiced what he was preaching and I was the beneficiary of love notes, chocolates, and flowers in the days preceding February 14th. And we had such a great time working on this little project together. We cooked together, he hung out with me in the kitchen while I mixed things up, he told me how great I was. It was a pretty memorable weekend for us, too.

Menu
Grilled Portobellos with Gorgonzola, Bruschetti, Assorted Olives
Caprese Salad
Homemade Fettucine, Lasagne Bolognese, Ravioli
Sfogliatelle and Chocolate dipped Strawberries
Red and White Wines, Cappucino