Food

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Arrabbiata Sauce

Rao’s Homemade Arrabbiata (or “angry” sauce) is a spicy tomato sauce made from tomatoes, garlic, and crushed red pepper cooked in olive oil. It adds spiciness to pasta, meats, fish and pizza. It is our family’s favorite grocery store spaghetti sauce. It has extra body due to olive oil but it is not as sweet as other grocery store spaghetti sauces. Continue reading Recipe: Pressure Cooker Arrabbiata Sauce

Mike Connelly
Food

Recipe: Traditional Fresh Pasta

Using a KitchenAid stand mixer, pour the semolina and all-purpose four in the mixing bowl. Use the dough attachment. Set the mixer speed on 1. Gradually add the eggs and egg yolks to the mix. Scrape the sides to ensure that the pasta dough is thoroughly mixed (about 5 minutes). Your pasta dough should have the consistency of Play-Doh. If necessary, add semolina flour (if too wet)or water (if too dry) Continue reading Recipe: Traditional Fresh Pasta

Mike Connelly
Food

Recipe: Paella on the Grill

One of our favorite family summer recipes is paella, smoked on our barbecue grill. This is our adaptation of a paella recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. Although other recipes may include clams, rabbit, or snails, we prefer chicken, shrimp, scallops and chorizo sausage. We also skip the expensive saffron. Key to this recipe’s taste and mouthfeel is the combination of smoked paprika, the smoke from … Continue reading Recipe: Paella on the Grill

Mike Connelly
Food

Recipe: Sous Vide Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington is a decadent dish that is perfect for holiday dinners. The essence of Beef Wellington is a beef tenderloin that is coated with pâté and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry, and then baked. Leah Hyslop covers the history of Beef Wellington here. Most people assume that this is a British dish, likely named after the Duke of Wellington. Surprisingly, this appears to be a 20th century American invention, although it clearly is similar to the French dish, filet de bœuf en croûte. Continue reading Recipe: Sous Vide Beef Wellington

Mike Connelly
Food

Review of Allegro Coffee Beans (Another Trip to Whole Foods) Updated

I never was a barista. And I certainly am not a professional cupper. But I cannot imagine a morning without at least one, if not two, lattes. We make our lattes at home. We recently upgraded our espresso machine from the Breville BES860XL to the BES920XL. So, now it is time to consider upgrading our coffee beans. Continue reading Review of Allegro Coffee Beans (Another Trip to Whole Foods) Updated

Mike Connelly
Food

Cooking: the Best Cookbook Collection

I started collecting cookbooks twenty years ago. I am definitely an early adopter of technology. But there’s no replacing a hardbound book of substance, with beautiful photography. If you are starting your own collection, I recommend focusing first on cooking techniques. The first book that I would buy is Modernist Cuisine at Home by Nathan Myhrvold. This is a condensed version of his highly regarded five volume Modernist Cuisine series, adapted for home chefs. Continue reading Cooking: the Best Cookbook Collection

Mike Connelly
Connected Home, Food

Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker with WiFi Review

Before buying new electronics and appliances, I always research online reviews. The Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker, won high marks from The Sweet Home, CNET, Gizmodo, and Sous Vide Guy. Anova brings significant expertise: prior to making immersion circulators, Anova focussed on lab equipment. This updated cooker has a 900-watt element, an improved circulator, WiFi, and Bluetooth. It has a large dial that displays the current and target water temperature, as well as the cook time remaining. The bottom skirt can be removed for cleaning. Continue reading Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker with WiFi Review

Mike Connelly
Food

Introduction to Sous Vide Cooking

I recently started cooking using sous vide. Sous vide means “under vacuum” in French. With this technique, you vacuum seal your food in a bag and then cook it in a water bath at a precisely controlled temperature. When the food (typically meat or chicken) reaches your desired temperature, you remove it from the water bath, sear/grill/broil it, and serve it. Gourmet restaurants have used this technique for years but it only recently became affordable for the home chef. Continue reading Introduction to Sous Vide Cooking

Mike Connelly