HOMEMADE!!

i should've know that my sauce count was dangerously low.
our buddy dylan popped in to the studio suggesting
that we split a just-sauce sicilian from next door,
and i said: no.
*gasp*
i know! that's craaaazy, right?
well, hold on now-
i've been feeling like a big bloated lazy heap of trash lately,
so i skipped those couple of thick slices.
i figured a little willpower in the moment would save me the self-loathing later.
... but i regretted it not long after while i sniffed all that aromatic sauce
wafting through the drafty walls.
uh-huh.
only the delirium of a critically-inadequate red sauce count could account for such
a large lapse in judgement on my part.
i know better, and next time, i'll do better....
so,
as the snow started to fall, and my appetite started to grow,
i headed back home to the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress test kitchen laboratory,
and fired up some homemade mama mia marinara magic for my face!
yup!
homemade tastes better, bro.
that's real.
and from-scratch pasta AND sauce is molto expert all day long.
check the teleport:

that's AMORÉ!
i was making pasta while talking to my daughter harvest about college.
and i was warm, and the snow was falling outside,
and everything was fitting together just right.
i LOVE it when that happens.
how fresh does that pasta look, though?
right?!
mmmhmmm.
the sauce was tight.
the looooong ribbons of semolina sexxxiness were perfect.
the basil was as fresh as it gets.
those exxxtra tomatoes?
well, c'mon- MORE tomato hottness is a good thing, y'feel me?
word.
and there's even some flat-leaf italian parsley sprankles,
and a few crushed red pepper flakes for good measure.
yeah-
too much is the right amount.
don't settle for less.
-
the pasta is simplicity itself-
-
*
SEMOLINA RIBBONS!
-
1 cup semolina flour;
2 tsp sea salt;
1/2 cup ap flour;
2 T olive oil;
3/4 cup warm water.
^that's it.
kneaded and kneaded and kneaded some more-
i used my stand mixer, because it's my favorite kitchen thing ever.
covered and rested for 11 minutes,
then rolled thin af on a well-floured surface,
and gently floured s'more,
rolled into a cylinder, and sliced into 1/2" coils.
next they get unrolled and allowed to dry for 11 minutes,
then boiled in salllllty water until they float, which takes no time at all.
^ like i said: simple. .....but so DOPE.
*
and the sauce was a flippin' exxxplosion of excellence, as always-
-
*
MAMA MIA MARINARA!
-
in a high speed blender, pulverize:
1/4 sweet onion;
1/2 large carrot;
1/2 cup baby grape tomatoes;
2 cloves garlic.
add that and 1 T olive oil to a small saucepot,
and saute on high hea until the onion turns translucent.
add:
1 tsp ea GPOP;
2 T nootch;
1/2 tsp oregano, thyme, sage;
pink salt, lots of black pepper.
stir well, and cook another two or three minutes,
then add:
2 tsp tamari;
2 tsp balsamic vinegar;
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes;
1 cup warm water-
bring to a boil, and turn down to medium-low,
simmering while you make all that pasta up above.
-
a good sauce can transform a whole day.
or night.
and since it was gonna be a snow day after dark,
i already knew that ANYthing could happen.
so i opted to channel some sorcery into the sauce and let dinner supercharge my soul.
it worked, and the sauce count is back at 100%.
lucky me.
-
guys!
that basil turns it UP to eleven.
mmhmm.
i want all the exxxtras, all the time, or else, what the eff are we even doing??
it's just pasta, but it's NEVER just pasta.
it's an experience, and i want these experiences to be positive;
which is why i go hard on the homemade jauns.
if i'm gonna eat it, i want to fill and fulfill all sorts of needs.
good sauce, good noodles, good times, and a good night.
i was asleep as soon as i sat down.
that's probably not great, but it's what happened.
i go to bed late, but i fall asleep somewhere else early.
that's my move.
i was up, out, and about, shoveling a pee path for crabtree at 1 am.
yeah.
he is a snugglebaby when it's cold, but he's also a whiny lil bihhhh at the same time.
it's endearing and infuriating simultaneously.
but, he's got nobody me, and that's about as good as it gets for the guy,
which isn't great news for him.
i'm shoveling for him, but i'm shoving him just as often.
we're making our time together as good as it can be,
but i think it needs to be better, and so do he and i.
that's the news, and that's all there is to it;
never quiet, never soft.....