… And This Little Piggy Went In The Ravioli

Inspiration From A Night Of Frivolity And A Few Too Many Drinks

Menu:

Pork Ravioli with Butter Herb Sauce

Beet Salad with Frisee and Toasted Almonds

Chocolate Decadence Cake with Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream

Drinks:

French 75

Tonights dinner began when we went out shopping, and after many drinks decided to go to this amazing restaurant in Oakland called Boot and Shoe. We ordered a pork ragu, which in our somewhat buzzed minds tasted like heaven in a bowl. The pork was soft and seasoned to perfection and the pasta sauce was simple, light and fresh. We decided the next day or possibly that night (who can remember) to recreate what we had had for our Monday night meal. We, of course, had no recipes for the dinner, we could only guess what the components were. Granted it turned out amazing and the flavors were exceptional, but it was our first time jumping into creating our own recipes and sort of fudging with recipes we were following. 

The main event of the evening was the pork that was in the Ravioli. We decided to do ravioli because we thought it would be easier to fill something? (Another not necessarily thought out brilliant idea.) Molly one spent five hours Sunday night roasting the pork shoulder so we could put it in the ravioli. It took much longer than she thought it was going to take and she fell asleep while it was in the oven, but it still tasted amazing and fell off the bone as it was supposed to. Unfortunately though because she feel asleep she couldn't have it on the nachos she made that night. (tear)

This was the second time we attempted to make pasta. We did not use whole wheat flour because the last time we did, it didn't turn out so well. This time the pasta was made with unbleached flour and would have been great had we cooked it longer. We thought that when ravioli floated to the top it meant it was done, but apparently this rule doesn't apply to thicker homemade pasta. The dough itself still tasted good and we were happy with the outcome.

For the ravioli sauce Molly 1 made it up. A whole stick of unsalted butter combined with white wine, chives and parsley and salt. What could be better? 

The salad was beets with frisee, which looks like sea anemones, but is really lettuce. We toasted some almonds as well and put them on top. Molly 2 under cooked some of the beets though (how hard is it to boil a beet and stick a fork in it?), so they ended up slightly al dente, and even though that works for pasta, it does't necessarily make a good beet. The dressing was a simple vinaigrette that Molly 1 knocked out of the park and everyone loved. 

For dessert Molly 2 made a chocolate decadence cake. It was more like a fudge or a pudding because there were only 2 tablespoons of flour in it to 16 ounces of chocolate and 5 ounces of butter, but it was so good. The center didn't cook all the way through, but we ate the edges, which were so rich and chocolatey. The raspberry sauce was made from fresh raspberries that were macerated and then pressed through a sieve and the whipped cream was a cup of manufacturing cream with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Delicious!

The drink tonight was a French 75. It was named after a gun because it had such a kick. The combo was champagne and gin and lemon juice with sugar. Molly 2 was supposed to bring the ginger simple syrup from the candied ginger she had made the week before, but forgot. (What else is new) They were good, but would have been better with the simple syrup. 

The dinner was fun to make; all the pasta rolling and waiting for the pork to finish. No sarcasm really. The pork we would definitely make again, everything we would make again… of course with some alterations.

Links:
Roasted Pork Shoulder
Ravioli Dough
Vinaigrette
Chocolate Decadence Cake
French 75

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Summer in Winter

Menu:

Sweet & Sour Pork Sliders

Baked Fries

Ranch 32 Pinot Noir 2011

Tonight's dinner was an homage to summer and those warm nights, eating in the backyard and listening to the crickets (if we had crickets in Berkeley). The pork sliders were like the name of the recipe, sweet and sour, although the sweet aspect was a little overwhelming. The main component in the marinade were oranges; orange juice and orange zest . We decided in the future that it would be just as good if not better to make the recipe without the orange zest(shame on you Giada De Laurentes). The slider recipe, from the food network, our favorite recipe site, came with a slaw recipe that added a nice, refreshing crunch to the slider. The buns we used for the sliders were Molly's 2 favorite, Hawaiian Sweet rolls, which turned out to be too much sweet on sweet in the end.

Molly 1 got the baked fries recipe from her father:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Cut russet potatoes into 1/3 inch slivers lengthwise
3. Lay potato slivers on baking sheet in one layer and sprinkle with olive oil to coat but not drench (you want them to be crispy)
4. Salt and pepper to taste, I also use Herbs De Provance 
5. Bake for 30-40 min turning once.

This time we piled all the potato slivers onto one sheet and ended up with soggy fries. NOT GOOD. That's why its important to give your fries room to bake and get crispy. 

We have decided to include our wine pairings with the meals. This will not only help readers choose good wines to go with the meal, but it will more importantly help us remember what wines we drink and if we liked them or not, since we're usually tipsy by the time we get around to writing our blog entry. This time we chose Ranch 32 pinot noir not because we knew what it tasted like, but we could buy one and get the second for .05 cents. It was initially really sweet when tasted by itself, but when paired with the sliders, mellowed out and provided a crisp palate cleanser to the meal. We would recommend this wine with something light like chicken, fish, or pork, but it would not be able to stand up to beef or lamb.

We can't wait to make this again in warm weather, when we can use the grill and get some good chard marks and smokey flavor on the meat.  

Links:

Sweet & Sour Pork Sliders 

Ranch 32 Pinot Noir 2011