The Complex Amateur Food and Drink Blog

Oh my oh my. If you are looking for a change up from a traditional tomato sauce in your pasta, this recipe should be on the very top of your list. Even if you cheat and get store bought penne (strongly suggest against because this is a fun pasta to make), this is a game changer for a sauce that can me put together fairly quickly and have your friends in aw. After doing a few recipes and doughs from here, this will probably be the first place I go when everything reopens. Go try this, seriously ridiculous. Cookbook – Flour + Water Ingredients – Garganelli Pasta – Basically a…

This is my standard dough that I use for non stuffed pastas, and should be yours if you are looking to impress. This is one of three foundational doughs used throughout the Flour + Water cookbook, and probably my favorite to make. I have tried out quite a few different dough recipes, but this one has consistently given me the best results and in the end is easiest to work with. This dough also uses an insane amount of eggs yolks so be ready, about 300 grams, or 16-20 yolks, no whites. I remember when I first saw that I was thinking WTF? Is this guy serious? But the dough…

Back to the Rich Table cookbook! I love a good steak as much as anyone else but normally keep it pretty plain aside from maybe some caramelized shallots or onions, so I figured we could give this chimichurri a try. If you are not familiar, chimichurri is an Argentine uncooked sauce used as a condiment and for cooking. For this recipe, I did not follow the Rich Table guide lines for cooking the steak because they use a grill, which I do not have. I also enjoy cooking my steak briefly on the stove top, and then finished in the oven to ensure the correct doneness. So I will talk…

Ever made homemade tortillas? If you haven’t, you should. Like, now. Can you just got and buy store bought? Of course. Same thing with dried pasta. But if you really like Mexican food and preparing it at home, nothing beats homemade tortillas. I don’t have the tools for the traditional corn tortillas, but flour is a great second options. Very basic ingredients, just takes a little TLC, especially if you do not have a tortilla press, which I don’t. Not much else to say about tortillas except how freaking amazing they are when you make them at home. Let’s get started. Cookbook – Nopalito – A Mexican Kitchen Ingredients –…

Burma Superstar has been an SF establishment since 1992, holy crap. The modest restaurant in the Inner Richmond is one of those SF spots that people go crazy for and are willing to wait in crazy lines. The food here is just so unique, it really exposes you to whole different culture and a type of food that you just don’t see very often. I probably chose the easiest recipe in this book to get going, but I mean I have never made a single curry from scratch so I figured this would be a good starting point! Anyways, let’s get this rolling… Cookbook – Burma Superstar – Addictive Recipes…

Probably my girlfriends favorite meal that I have made. Even better that asparagus are in season right now and ultra fresh. We love Flour + Water and can’t wait to be doing more recipes in this book, but this was a classic as we made it a long time ago when we first started dating. For this time around, we made an abbreviated caramelle so that it is much easier to roll and handle, but still have a candy like shape that looks amazing. Also, with the sauce, you almost fry the pasta so it will give them a nice chewy texture that goes along with it. Give this one…

Flour + Water is definitely one of our favorite, if not our favorite, pasta place in the city. Have never had close to a mediocre experience there, always exceptional and when you can spring for it, do the pasta tasting menu with the wine pairing. This in turn, is probably my favorite ravioli dough that I have used. It’s very dry and firm, so you really gotta put some muscle into kneading it. Something unique with the Flour + Water doughs is that they incorporate a little water into the pasta making process with a spritzer. When you are making this and feel the dough starting to dry out, spritz…

Y’all every worked with fava beans? Yeah me neither. It’s a much bigger bean than I expected, has a furry inside, and you get 4-5 small beans per huge bean. It’s a bit of work to shuck them. This is my first from the French Laundry cookbook, so I figured we could ease into it with a pasta recipe. I feel fairly confident in my pasta making skills but have never made Agnolotti we’ll see how this goes. We could probably talk all day about The French Laundry and how iconic of a restaurant it is, but for a few highlights: Run by famous chef Thomas Keller – most Michelin…