Fettuccine with Truffle Sauce

Yum! This is an Ina recipe that my mother-in-law loves. It's decadent and delicious and if you love truffles, it's so great. It is on the heavy side, so great for a cold winter night and a special dinner. We had our friends Kara and Jon over for dinner and served it - big hit. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

6oz truffle butter

1lb fresh fettuccine 

6 oz pecorino, shaved thin with a vegetable peeler

Directions:

Heat the cream in a sauté pan over medium heat until it simmers. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta.

Fettuccine with Red Wine Sauce

Sorry for the delay! December was busy and we went down to Florida for a week between Christmas and New Year's. Now winter has descended on New York and it's freezing. Nice, cozy pasta dishes sound so appealing, which could also partially be because... I'm pregnant! Jamie and I are expecting a little girl at the end of May. SO so excited! Probably fewer cocktail recipes on here for a few months...

My missing red wine may have played a role in this recipe's invention. Over the summer, my friend Kara and I had dinner at Ciccio and had this great red wine pasta. I'd been wanting to try to recreate it and tried tonight. Yum! It's really simple and goes perfectly with good, fresh pasta. It's a somewhat subtle sauce, but again, with fresh pasta you don't need too much. I served it with lots of grated pecorino and cracked black pepper. 

Ricotta Cavatelli with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

We had ricotta cavatelli with broccoli rabe and sausage at Battersby and it was amazing, so I was inspired to try it myself. Since most normal/sane people don't make their own cavatelli, I'd suggest looking for this frozen at an Italian specialty store. (If anyone does want to learn to make homemade ricotta cavatelli, let me know and I'll put that up!) It's a great winter meal.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 lb fresh ricotta cavatelli

2 links sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Bucatini All'amatriciana

The bucatini all'amatriciana at Lupa is totally delicious, so when I got my new Kitchen Aid and pasta extruder attachment I immediately broke it out to make fresh bucatini. (I know, I'm a weirdo.) Feel free to just buy bucatini like a normal person, but definitely make the sauce. To save a little time, I also used marinara from Faicco's instead of making the basic tomato sauce the recipe calls for, so that makes it easier. The sauce is rich and tart and has a little kick. It really is wonderful. And if you can't find bucatini or perciatelli, spaghetti will work, too. (And if you can't find guanciale you can use pancetta, but guanciale is definitely better in this.)

I got the recipe from Babbo's recipe archive site. Yum!

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 lb guanciale, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2 red onions, cut in half in 1/2" slices
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups marinara sauce
1 big handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 1/2 lb bucatini
Pecorino Romano for grating

Homemade Garganelli with Fresh Garden Tomato Sauce

So another fabulous shower gift (that probably only I would register for) was a gnocchi board. (Thanks, Alice!) While I'm super excited to make gnocchi, I wanted to try garganelli. It's a time consuming, penne style pasta that really appealed to me. I was waiting for Jamie to come home Sunday afternoon, so I thought I would take advantage of my fresh tomatoes and time to spare and try it. Yum! Any fresh pasta is great, but these are really pretty noodles. Certainly a treat. In contrast, the tomato sauce is one of the easiest sauces - feel free to make it with any other regular old pasta. This is also not a traditional garganelli sauce, but it's summer, it's what I had, and it's delicious.

Fresh Garden Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 small bowls worth of super ripe, fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup good olive oil
1-2 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced