The start of a tradition

The Start of a Tradition

     My husband finds cooking relaxing after a long, hard day at work, and we both find much joy in eating delicious food together. 

     In an attempt to combine the two, I planned a cooking date for the two of us as a surprise for him several years ago.  This was not a date where we would be taught by professional chefs and have a night on the town (although we hope to be able to do that someday).  This was a much simpler version of us putting the kids to bed, creating a food masterpiece, and then eating it together all the while talking about our days, hopes and dreams for our family and the future. 


     I selected homemade tortellini as our experiment for our first date. It was fun, messy, delicious and bonding for both of us. Our pasta cooking date was the first of many more. I want to share them here with you, and I hope you will try it out for yourself.

                                     Here is Matt making the bacon scallop cream sauce.

 Here I am rolling the pasta into tortellini.

Finished product...tada.

This is what time we ate.



     Here is the recipe we used from The Food Network's Alton Brown.  We shaped it into tortellini, stuffed it with cheese and made up a sauce from bacon, scallops and cream. 

Fresh Pasta:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

By Hand: On a clean surface make a well with the flour. In a measuring cup mix the eggs, water and oil and salt. Pour the wet mixture slowly into the flour and mix with your 2 fingers until all of the wet is incorporated. Do not force the dough to take all of the flour. If you are going to use a pasta machine to roll out the dough you may at this point form the dough into a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to rest. If you going to roll this by hand you should knead the dough on a floured work surface for 8 to 10 minutes.

By Food Processor:
In the bowl of your food processor combine the flour and salt and pulse 2 to 3 times. In a liquid measuring cup whisk the eggs, water and oil. While pulsing the machine pour this mixture in a continuous stream and continue running the machine until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Follow directions above for hand rolling or machine.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 3 to 5 minutes in boiling water
Ease of Preparation: easy