The Italian Stallion...

No. This post has nothing to do with Rocky Balboa or horses from Italy for those of you who sadly have no idea who this 80's film hero is. It does however have a great deal to do with Italian food. I love Italian food. If there is one place in the world I want to go it is Italy. This coming from a girl that has never been to Hawaii. I love all things Italian. Thankfully so do Bakerista and Burgermeister. Several months ago, the father and mother of Bakerista and Burgermeister as well as their three younger, rather precocious brothers, handed me the keys to their house and monster car and drove away for the weekend. I organized archery competitions in the back yard and used ice cream bars to bribe the younger boys into the cleanest rooms they have ever had. Because things were going so smoothly I decided to tackle homemade pasta sauce, homemade foccachia, scratch made noodles and homemade nutella cheesecake moose cups. Burgermeister was gone, so only Bakerista was there to help me. It was a challenge but in the end a major success as the third oldest informed me that it was a "masterpiece in my mouth." Fist in the air in victory, for he is hard to please in the food department. So when we decided to do Italian this past Friday, Bakerista requested (demanded) that meal again. So while my students sat under the weight of Algebra and Chemistry tests I was in the kitchen. The youngest of these five children decided to don an apron and chef hat and help me. His name is Fusty. Well, that isn't his real name, but that is what we call him. No clue why. Fusty was in a very helpful mood and before you knew it the seven year old was standing on a stool blanching tomatoes. It took over four hours and nine rounds of dishes, two of which Fusty did on his own, before the meal was done. But as the four of us sat down to a bowl of scratch made pasta and marinara with foccachia and gruyere cheese dip it was more than worth it. So, here is the process that Fusty and I went through to produce this Italian delight of a meal.

Pasta Sauce:

I don't really have a recipe for you. I totally made it up. I tend to do that. It went like this. Blanch 5 tomatoes. Peel the skin off. Mash them by hand in a bowl. Cut up an onion and four cloves of garlic. Toss some olive oil in a pot and heat it up. Throw the onion and garlic in the hot olive oil. Cook em for a few minutes. Then toss some dry basil, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes in there. Cook it until the onions are done and the garlic is a bit crispy. Breathe in the smell like Fusty and I did. Now toss in your tomatoes. Look in the pot like I did and realize you need more. Run over to the cupboard, grab a can of tomatoes and toss it in there. Bring it to a boil. Cook it on low with a lid on there for a long time. Like an hour. Then put it in a blender. Blend it. Realize it needs some salt and pepper and two dollops of tomato paste. Consult the seven year old and throw in a teaspoon of sugar. Perfect. Leave it on low till you are ready to eat it.

Pasta Noodles:

2 eggs to every cup of flour. 3 cups of flour in a bowl. Make a well. Crack in six room temperature eggs. Using one clean hand begin to slowly mix. Fusty dusts the board with flour. Pull mixed and sticky dough out of the bowl and onto the floured surface. Add some flour and begin to kneed. Roll it. Smack it. Punch it. Kick it of you have clean feet and are that flexible. This takes about ten minutes. No joke. It needs to be super smooth and elasticky. Roll it out until it's super thin. If you have a pasta cutter Lord bless you. I didn't. I cut them by hand with a knife while Fusty and Bakerista laid them out on a plate. Boil a big pot of SALT water. Boild em for two minutes. Strain and toss with that marinara. Hear the angels begin to sing in the back ground. And by angels I mean Bakerista, Burgermeister and Fusty.

Foccachia:

Take a cup of water. Pour it into a kitchen aid with a dough hook attachment. Sift two cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt together. Toss it gently into that water. Turn on the machine and let it kneed. Once its combine drop it onto a floured surface and kneed it until it is a smooth ball. Oil a baking sheet. Press the dough out until its flat and thin but has no holes. Baste it with olive oil and top it with dry herbs of your choice. Bake it in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes. Cut and serve.

Gruyere Cheese Dip:

I did follow a recipe for this one. Thanks to http://www.food.com/recipe/gruyere-cheese-sauce-187029

for the amazing recipe.

And that was all she wrote. Many thanks to Fusty and my dear students for yet another amazing Friday.