Dinner Party #1

Damn it all, still no camera. Sorry.

No, it wasn’t my first dinner party, but it’s the first one I’m writing about here. I’d been asked before to make dinner for people in the tennis club, so I did. The menu was pretty simple and straightforward – ravioli, linguine with an alfredo sauce, salad.

The salad’s a classic staple for me. Pears, arugula, orange vinaigrette. I know what you’re thinking, “Pears don’t hit stores until late June/early July.” And you’re right, but the recent heat wave in Northern California had me go slightly summery with the fresh portion of the menu. The pears were thinly sliced, salted and laid out as a flat sheet on the bottom of the plate. Peppery arugula went on top and the whole thing was lightly drizzled with the vinaigrette to highlight the sugars of the pear and really tone down some of the bitter notes in the arugula.

I made a classic mistake. I ran out of sauce. Well, I didn’t run out so much as let it slowly reduce down and thicken. The alfredo sauce kept simmering down and simmering down. I thought it was too watery at first. I got the thick consistency I wanted, but it meant I had just barely enough to go over the linguine. Now, earlier I said, “linguine with an alfredo sauce.” Most people will wonder, “isn’t that just alfredo?” And I’m going to say, “No.” It isn’t. To say something is “alfredo” means it’s in the style of Alfredo. It’s not the same. Something “alfredo” is very different from an alfredo sauce. Alfredo is just butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano tossed with the hot pasta. Alfredo sauce is that thick, rich, creamy sauce that coats everything. Huge difference in flavors and purpose. In the winter, that Alfredo sauce is going to be awesome because it’s so rich and warm and comforting. In the dead of summer, forget the sauce. Do it up lighter. It’s too hot to eat anything that thick.

The raviolis were my baby, though. 4-1/2 hours of rolling out pasta dough, and filling them with spinach and cheese. Totally worth it.

Alfredo Sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup fine grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
black pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan. Add heavy cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and whisk. Reduce heat to simmer, add white wine and let the mixture reduce until thick. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon. Serve as is over pasta or with whatever proteins and vegetables you want.

Alfredo style in comparison would be to add about a stick of butter and 1/2 cup of fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to the hot pasta and mix. Both ways can be garnished with finely chopped parsley.

Pasta dough

4 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
3-1/2 cups flour

I don’t care what kind of flour you use, this is the basic recipe. Find what works for you, though. Mound the flour up and make a well. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks to the well and slowly incorporate flour into the egg mixture while mixing. Once all the flour and egg has been mixed together begin kneeding by hand. If the dough is too sticky, add flour in 1/4 cup increments until it is only lightly tacky. Kneed for 5 minutes and let rest for 25 minutes. Roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut.

Spinach and cheese Raviolis
Make above dough.

Yeah, I’m not giving this one to you yet. This shall remain mine for a while.

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