Sunday, January 29, 2006
The Silver Spoon: Tagliatelle with Cream, Peas and Ham
Flavor: Simple, but out of this world
Prep Time: 30 mins. (less with pre-made pasta)
Add to the rotation?: Yes
The second course meal, and main entree that I created from The Silver Spoon was pasta with peas and ham. I have had this dish a number of times at area chain Italian restaurants. Often, it is served as a dense, overly sauced dish which leaves the consumer feeling bloated and heavy. However, the reason for creating this dish from The Silver Spoon was due to its relative familiarity that I have had with other versions. So, keeping with The Silver Spoon theme - this recipe on page 281 was simple from an ingredients perspective and even easier to prepare. The Silver Spoon calls for fresh homemade pasta in the shape of Tagliatelle and keeping my authentic hat on, I dove in and tried my hand at creating homemade pasta from the recipe on page 268. I have to admit that I have made homemade pasta before but, with a fab handcranked pasta machine which I no longer have. However, I have two hands and a rolling pin; which didn't cut it when it came time to roll out the dough. My seemingly thin strips of pasta cooked up to be large and chewy pasta sticks that looked more like squid in the finished dish. In retrospect, I would next time use a good quality ready-made pasta product or invest in a pasta machine and make my own. Ok, moving on from that disaster. Once past the homemade pasta issue, the rest of the dish is a snap! I used frozen peas since it is winter time with no apparent lost to the end product. Also, I bought a ham shank earlier in the week for a soup that I made (See my post on Bean Cuisine) and used chunks of that cut up into small bitesize pieces. The ham had to be precooked then added to the onions, peas and cream. Lastly, toss in the pasta and we had an instant dinner entree. While I don't normally cook this type of calorie rich meal for my family on a daily bases it was nice to have a treat. The finished dish with American water injected ham, frozen peas and freaky pasta sticks was still way above in flavor than what I have normally gotten at the chain Italian restaurants. This dish will be going into the family rotation and certainly is worthily of creating for guest.
What are you tasting?
Edna
Prep Time: 30 mins. (less with pre-made pasta)
Add to the rotation?: Yes
The second course meal, and main entree that I created from The Silver Spoon was pasta with peas and ham. I have had this dish a number of times at area chain Italian restaurants. Often, it is served as a dense, overly sauced dish which leaves the consumer feeling bloated and heavy. However, the reason for creating this dish from The Silver Spoon was due to its relative familiarity that I have had with other versions. So, keeping with The Silver Spoon theme - this recipe on page 281 was simple from an ingredients perspective and even easier to prepare. The Silver Spoon calls for fresh homemade pasta in the shape of Tagliatelle and keeping my authentic hat on, I dove in and tried my hand at creating homemade pasta from the recipe on page 268. I have to admit that I have made homemade pasta before but, with a fab handcranked pasta machine which I no longer have. However, I have two hands and a rolling pin; which didn't cut it when it came time to roll out the dough. My seemingly thin strips of pasta cooked up to be large and chewy pasta sticks that looked more like squid in the finished dish. In retrospect, I would next time use a good quality ready-made pasta product or invest in a pasta machine and make my own. Ok, moving on from that disaster. Once past the homemade pasta issue, the rest of the dish is a snap! I used frozen peas since it is winter time with no apparent lost to the end product. Also, I bought a ham shank earlier in the week for a soup that I made (See my post on Bean Cuisine) and used chunks of that cut up into small bitesize pieces. The ham had to be precooked then added to the onions, peas and cream. Lastly, toss in the pasta and we had an instant dinner entree. While I don't normally cook this type of calorie rich meal for my family on a daily bases it was nice to have a treat. The finished dish with American water injected ham, frozen peas and freaky pasta sticks was still way above in flavor than what I have normally gotten at the chain Italian restaurants. This dish will be going into the family rotation and certainly is worthily of creating for guest.
What are you tasting?
Edna
