Tortellini

Sunday was a day for shopping and cooking. Emily and I went to Target, BevMo, Trader Joe's, and the 21st Ammendment. (I wanted to pick up some of their Watermelon Wheat beer.) Afterwards I embarked on a few cooking projects: I made some stock and some chili powder to replenish supplies (and get some carcasses out of the freezer).

Then we made cheese and basil tortellini. It was my first attempt at making pasta. I pretty much fudged the pasta recipe, using four cups of semolina and enough eggs to get a dough (about 6). The cheeses were a soft goat cheese, parmesean, pecorino, and asiago; I mixed in a good handful or two of basil, a bit of olive oil and a dab of sour cream to get it to bind, and then seasoned it. I served the tortellini with a simple red sauce and accompanied it with a pizza margherita that Emily made.

The pasta was decent, but they were a bit large and misshapen, and the dough was a bit chewy, even though I cooked it for the specified 4 min. I think I didn't make the dough thin enough and cut the circles too big. The process was a bit labor intensive; I'd probably do it again, but I'm more likely to try ravioli next time. :)

In related news, I'm keeping a record of what I'm cooking in a google calendar - mostly for my own records, but feel free to peruse it.