Bolognese Sauce

Looking for a hearty, meaty pasta sauce that's loads better than something you get out of a jar? Check out this recipe for some meaty goodness. I love the aroma of the red wine that's added to the sauce - yum!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped

2 oz. streaky bacon, diced

12 oz. lean minced beef

14 oz. can of chopped tomatoes

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup red wine

2 tbsp tomato puree

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook for 3 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, carrot, celery, and bacon. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

3. Add the beef and cook over high heat for another 3 minutes or until all of the meat is browned.

4. Stir in the tomatoes, oregano, and red wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and heave to simmer for about 45 minutes.

5. Stir in the tomato puree and season with salt and pepper.

Pesto Sauce

Looking for a pesto sauce that isn't too salty, basil-y, garlicky, and other sorts of "y"-ness? This is your recipe. All of the ingredients came together in delightful blend of PESTO. Be sure to coat the HOT pasta with this pesto as soon as it's ready so that the pesto isn't so raw.

Ingredients:

2 bunches fresh basil

2 tbsp garlic, minced

1/3 cup roasted nuts (almond, walnut, pine)

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Blanch the basil in boiling water for 20 seconds, then strain and plunge into ice water to stop the leaves from cooking. (It also helps to retain the bright green color.)

2. Wring out all the excess water from the basil and remove the heavy stems.

3. Put all the ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Toss the pesto sauce with hot pasta immediately and serve.

Puttanesca Sauce

I think this was my favorite sauce of the night. Tomato-based, zesty, and hearty - I can see why a bowl of pasta with puttanesca sauce hits the spot on a cold night. Yeah, the list of ingredients seems a bit off-putting (anchovies?! olives?!), but they really came together in this delicious sauce that will have your taste buds reminiscing for the next week. (Mine still are!)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp garlic, minced

6 anchovy fillets

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp capers, minced

1/4 cup black olives, sliced

1/4 cup green olives, sliced

2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup fresh basil, torn or chopped

1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped (remove stems first - it's bitter)

Method:

1. Heat a skillet over high heat and add the olive oil, garlic, anchovy fillets, oregano, capers, black olives, green olives, and red pepper flakes. As the anchovy melts and the bubbles begin to subside, add the tomatoes and wine.

**Note: If the garlic starts to brown, immediately add the tomatoes and wine.

2. Let the mixture cook over medium heat until it reaches a nice tomato sauce consistency. Season the sauce with a little pepper, and add the herbs to heat through. Add salt to taste. (Probably won't need this.)

3. Toss with pasta thoroughly. Heat through, and garnish with grated Parmesan.

Fresh Pasta

The pasta was delicious! It also didn't take as much effort as I thought. (Perhaps I'm only saying that cuz I wasn't the responsible party in charge of making pasta - Bhumi and Nelly were.) It was especially easy due to Trang's pasta roller/cutter attachment that she purchased for her KitchenAid stand mixer. All we had to do was roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and then run it through the stand mixer attachment a couple of times to get it to the desired thinness. Then we ran it through the cutter attachment to create fettuccine noodles. These fresh noodles cook a lot faster than the store bought ones, so you'll want to keep an eye on them as they're boiling away on the stove. You won't be sorry you tried this though - fresh pasta is far superior than that store bought stuff. I guarantee it! :) The below recipe serves six.

Ingredients:

1 lb white flour

2 tsp salt

4 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt.

2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the eggs and 2 tbsp of oil. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the eggs, gradually drawing in the flour. After a few minutes, the dough will be too stiff to use a spoon, and you will need to use your fingers.

3. Once all the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. If you find the dough to be too wet, add a little more flour and continue to knead. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes.

4. The basic dough is now ready. Roll out the pasta thinly and create the pasta shapes required.

** For us, we used Trang's handy KitchenAid stand mixer's pasta roller and cutter set. This made the process much, much, MUCH easier. Totally worth a buy if you like fresh pasta, and you have a stand mixer.

Gnocchi with Cherry Tomato Sauce

This cherry tomato sauce was my favorite out of all the recipes from last night. It was super flavorful, and the combination of the naturally sweet tomatoes with the distinctive saltiness of the olives was pure perfection. Again, the recipe comes from allrecipes.com; the one change we made was substituting half of the cherry tomatoes required with chopped Roma tomatoes since Mike's cherry tomato plants couldn't give us more. :-) I always thought gnocchi would be hard to make, but what do you know - they sell them premade at the supermarket. We just cooked them like regular pasta. This sauce will go well with other pasta, too, so you should give it a try even if you can't find gnocchi. The below recipe serves four.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 minced red chile pepper
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2/3 cup kalamata olives, sliced
• 1 (16 ounce) package fresh gnocchi
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, and chile pepper; cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, and stir in the cherry tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes have lost their form and are beginning to make a sauce, about 5 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes.
2. While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the fresh gnocchi, and cook until the gnocchi float to the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Gently strain out the gnocchi and place into a serving dish.
3. Stir the basil and olives into the simmering sauce, and cook for one minute. Pour the sauce over the drained gnocchi and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.