Monday, May 16, 2011

Hasta la Pasta, and New Salon Dates Soon!

We had a top-notch Pasta Salon here at the F.o.t.D. Headquarters on Sunday, rolling all kinds of dough on the best little pasta roller ever (which was the last one standing after Flour and Bones last week). Six Saloneers brightened up an otherwise grey day as we turned goods from Green City Market into some really nice dishes:

-I started the crew off with two of my all-time favorites: homemade Epi bread and pork rillettes--we needed some brightness to go along with that, so I made a tapenade out of kalamata and castellano olives, shallots, preserved lemon, capers, garlic and olive oil;
-We kneaded the dough by hand and got busy rolling, first making 3" circles for our tortellini en brodo, filled with ground market chicken, green garlic and romano cheese, hand formed and served in a broth made from the carcass of said chicken and green garlic with asparagus, chive flowers, and garlic mustard greens;
-Next was a bright shallot vinaigrette over a salad of simplest form with gorgeous greens from the farm and crunchy french breakfast radishes;
-Thick, fat tagliatelle was hand cut and we tossed it in a pork ragout made from braised pork, onions, green garlic, artichokes and tomatoes. Cooked long, low and slow, the pork was meltingly tender and was punctuated by the artichokes and brightness of fresh parsley, chives, orange zest and olive oil.
-A little dessert bite was offered up a la minute: greek yogurt with shaved tangelo granita and local honey--a small little cap to a big, hearty meal.
This was a great Salon--everyone got involved, and we even had little assembly lines down for rolling pasta, cutting it, and forming the beautiful tortellini. We exchanged ideas and stories about food, and someone even went home with one of my kombucha scobys. It was a real nice ride through a Sunday afternoon, and a bit restorative after the monster two weeks we've just had at Food on the Dole. A big thanks to Sunday's crew, and stay tuned for June Salon dates this week!