member blog: abarn013
abarn013
From
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Member since
20th May 2008
About
I am not a trained chef and I have never been to a culinary arts school. But...I do love making food and eating it and one day I would love to wear a sweet chef 's hat (does it come in orange?). I live in Virginia with my beautiful wife, Ashley, our son Myles, and our two cats Millie and Gato.
My dream job is to travel the world, eating food, and just hanging out with people along the way. If anyone knows how I may be able to do this, please...let me know :)
Until then, I hang out in the kitchen, trying not to catch my self on fire, or get outside with my wife to play at the beach.
My Site:
http://www.ajasonbarnett.com
abarn013's blog posts
Homemade Gnocchi
Sat 24 May 2008GENERAL BLOG
Tonight I tried to make one my favorite italian dishes ever...Gnocchi. Before today, I had never actually made it...just ordered it at a restaurant. It think it turned out pretty successful. I used the recipes out of "Jamie's Italy" book and then made the mushroom and sage sauce to go with it. I also added some asparagus and to mix.
I do have to agree with Jamie's love for chilies...they definitely do wonders in the this dish and many others. I love the small kick it gives!
Mmmmm...Alfredo
Wed 21 May 2008GENERAL BLOG
So I have always wanted to know how to create a homemade creamy alfredo sauce. It has got to be one of my favorite Italian sauces and also one of the worst for health. Which may be why I enjoy it so much This recipe called for one ingredient that I thought was questionable….cream cheese. I had never heard of putting cream cheese in alfredo sauce. However, after it was all said and done, the sauce turned out to be the best that I had ever tasted!!!!...Honest. I am not sure if it was the ½ cup of butter or package of cream cheese that really grabbed my palette, but the creamy texture and 6 ounces of parmesan melted into the sauce took hold of my taste buds and lightened up my evening. (Or maybe that was the glasses of vino I had)
I also made up a nice fresh salad with a quick homemade balsalmic vinegar/oil, basil, lemon zest dressing, fresh baked garlic bread...
Here is the recipe. I definitely recommend trying it out and tell me how it went. It is quite simple to put together and is soooo worth it. Next time I plan to start experimenting with other ingredients in the sauce like sundried tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, basil, parsley, or crushed red pepper.
Note: I used shredded parmesan instead of grated and sautéed some broccoli and added it to the sauce.
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 5 Minutes
Ready In: 10 Minutes
Yields: 4 servings
"Cream cheese is the secret to this quick Alfredo sauce."
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream
cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 ounces grated Parmesan
cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black
pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta to serve.
Later,
- Jason
Homemade Wheat Pasta
Tue 20 May 2008GENERAL BLOG
So today I decided to try out my hand at some homemade wheat pasta. In the past I have made homemade pasta using regular white flour and about 11 eggs, but this recipe called for whole wheat flour and 4 eggs. I figured it would be a bit better for me, and since I do live in California, where people are crazy about health, I thought it would be appropriate. I was a bit skeptical about the whole wheat at first. The dough wasn’t as malleable and was harder to roll out with my pasta machine. But in the end, the taste was great. Wheat pasta has a slightly grainier texture and a subtle nutty flavor. As you may see int he picture it was a bit hard to get a nice clean cut with wheat pasta...but oh well...it tasted great!
I decided to make up some homemade tomato sauce to go with it. After I had already opened a can of tomato sauce and dumped in some tomato paste to make it a bit thicker, I noticed I was lacking in some basic ingredients, including oregano. I did my best to compensate with the basil and parsley, but there was still that small flavor missing. But of course, to make the dish, there was nothing like having some shredded parmesan cheese mixed in and then sprinkled on top! What a delight.
A word of advice, if you decide to make this wheat pasta, I recommend cutting it into eighths, instead of quarters. It makes it easier to role the tough dough.
Try out the wheat pasta and tell me what you think...
Whole Wheat Pasta
3 cups unsifted whole wheat flour
1 cup unsifted gluten flour (or white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
4 eggs
6 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of oil
1. Mix flour and salt together
2. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, water, and oil
3. Mix ingredients
4. Knead dough on a slightly floured board for 10 minutes
5. Cover with a dry cloth and let rest 1/2 hour
6. 1/4 piece at a time (I did 1/8) and roll into a rectangle
7. Run through pasta machine roller at biggest thickest setting, then the next one down, then skip a few and run it again until you reach desired thickness and texture.
8. Cook in salted boiling water!