Fish, Fennel, Fettuccine, And Another F Word

What our hair looks like after cooking.

Disaster Strikes the Hot Tamollys Kitchen

Menu:
Seared Scallops 
Fettuccine with Asparagus
Arugula Fennel Salad 

Drink:
French 75 

Tonights dinner was inspired by a recent trip to Seattle, where the sea food is abundant and fresh, and the fish fly through the air. (When they are tossed around by guys at Pike's Place Market.) We wanted to try making scallops, which we know are incredibly easy to screw up. However, even before making it to the pan, we realized that the scallops weren't going to turn out. Molly 2 was lazy about where she bought the scallops (a grocery store rather than a specialty fish market) and we ended up with scallops that were old and fishy. When you purchase scallops it is important that they be fresh and not smell overly fishy. 

After realizing that the scallops were off the menu, we thought we might as well still make the pasta, which would be very nice with sautéed asparagus and a simple light herbed beurre blanc. We rolled out the pasta and were so excited because we've had so many issues with pasta making in the past, but this time it seemed like the perfect thickness and right type of flour. After cutting the pasta into fettuccine size pieces, we made little piles, but neglected to lightly flour the pasta so when Molly 1 went to put it in the water, it was one big hunk of pasta. It still tasted amazing in the end, but was not what we were hoping for. 

The salad was the only thing that pretty much turned out how it was supposed to. The dressing was a orange vinaigrette and slightly too flat for the Mollys, but over all it was tasty. The fennel especially added a nice crunch and flavor. 

The drink tonight was the same we made the week before, but this time Molly 2 remembered the ginger simple syrup. They tasted great except for the fact that Molly 1 had no ice and the drinks were tepid. Can we ever get it right? 

Dinner was a hot mess and Molly 1's aunt came over which made our F ups even more embarrassing. The flavors turned out well but both of us were disappointed with the outcome. In the future we will be more careful about where we purchase our fish and flouring the pasta so it doesn't stick together. (Fourth times a charm?)

Links:
Arugula and Fennel Salad
(one sad link because only one thing worked.)

Ragu Ragu

Italian Comfort Food

Menu:
Ragu Sauce
Hand Made Pasta
Fresh Baguettes 
Arugula Salad with Beets

Tonight's dinner was all about warmth. We wanted to make something that reflected the cold weather and warmed us up inside. (Something besides the wine.) Originally we thought stew, which we'll probably make in the future, but then Molly 1 found this amazing Ragu recipe so we decided to give it a go. After all, Ragu is traditionally, in a sense, an Italian stew.

For this meal the Molly's shelled out some dough for a pasta maker. Usually we don't advocate buying kitchen supplies since were financially unstable... but this seemed like a useful investment. Molly 1 was in charge of making the pasta and ragu. 
The ragu was so simple. Literally chop the veggies, brown the meat and then let it simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal. The pasta however, was a nightmare. Molly 1 doesn't have a large food processor so she had to alternate between mixing in the smoothie blender and a Cuisinart food processor from 1989 (not even kidding). The next steps were very simple to follow and the pasta maker was easy to assemble and use (we got ours from Bed Bath and Beyond). The only advice we give is to make sure you have a large food processor and to use regular flour instead of wheat flour.


Molly 2 made the baguettes, which, unfortunately, turned out more like baseball bats. The recipe was easy enough to follow, but for some reason, they were not light and fluffy like described, but dense and doughy. The flavor was fine, and once drenched in stew you couldn't tell that they were as hard as hockey pucks, but in the future we would recommend using a more complicated sourdough recipe for baguettes, rather than trying to make them in one day. It's probably well worth the effort. 

Regardless of the missteps, the meal was exactly what we wanted, warm and cosy.