Home Fries Cooking Class Recipes 6/19/10

Basic Tomato Sauce

2 pounds fresh, sweet, mature vine-ripened tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
freshly milled black pepper to taste
Directions
Cut out the tough area around the core of each tomato and cut the tomatoes into quarters lengthwise. Using your fingers, push out the excess seeds. Chop the tomatoes coarsely or cut them into fine dice. Place the tomatoes in the bowl in which you will serve the pasta.
Add the oil, basil, salt, and pepper to the tomatoes and stir to mix well. Allow the sauce to stand at room temperature while the pasta cooks.



Pasta Dough

1 C. Semolina
1 C. Durum Flour
2 each Eggs
1 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
Water as needed

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and form a well in the center. Place eggs in the center and slowly stir to bring together. Use water if dough is dry. Once combined need by hand. Let rest for ½ hour. Roll to desired pasta shape.



Justin Rakes
Four Square Restaurant
foursquaredurham.blogspot.com

Fresh Pasta, Fresh Tomato Sauce & Making Soup from the Leftovers

On Saturday June 18th, I was really excited. I was starting the second Home Fries cooking class.
The chef for the class was Justin Rakes, the chef at Durham’s Four Square. Today’s lesson was making pasta and tomato sauce and using leftovers.
We washed our hands, wrote our names on our cups and utensils, and each got our own recipe instructions. Then we started making pasta. The first step was learning the ingredients. Next was mixing flour and salt – we made a well of the dry ingredients and then cracked the egg in. The egg we used had a double yolk! We found out that the pasta we made needed to rest, then “magically” we had more pasta dough that was rested and ready to go. We all got a turn to roll out the pasta in the pasta machine, which I thought was one of the most fun parts. Then we split into two groups, one group started making tomato sauce, the other group cut pasta. We cut out noodles and little pasta called Orecchiette, in English that means “little ear”. We boiled the pasta, which we learned cooks faster than dry pasta and cooked the tomato sauce. We learned that if you make an X in the skin on the tomatoes then boil them for 10 seconds that the skins are easy to take off.

We ate our work and then we took the left over tomato sauce – put cream in it, took a hand mixer & blended it up… and then had Creamy Tomato Soup with toast and goat cheese. After we finished eating and cleaning up we got to check out some cookbooks that we could keep until our next lesson. I got out a book called, “Anyone Can Cook.” I had a lot of fun learning how to make pasta; I can’t wait to make it at home!

Contributed by Cordelia

A big thank you from the Durham Home Fries Cookin' Team to Chefs Justin Rakes & Scott Martin of Four Square Restaurant in Durham! www.foursquarerestaurant.com

Join Chef Justin Rakes of Durham's Four Square Restaurant on June 19th at the Durham Farmers' Market.
Chef Rakes will take the Home Fries to Brinkley Farm's produce stand, introduce them to the farmers, and show them how to pick out a good vegetable. Then, he and Sous-Chef Scott Martin will show the Fries how to choose the right knives for the job at hand, make a fresh pasta with tomato sauce and lastly, he'll show the kids how to make something new out of yesterday's dinner!
I've heard a rumor that he's also going to do a drawing to give-away a pasta machine!!
This one is going to be a lot of fun with many new skills to learn!
Class starts at 9:30 sharp. Saturday's class still has seven spaces available for kids aged 9-13 who want to learn how to cook with the pros!
See you on the 19th!

Check out Chef Justin Rakes and his restaurant at www.foursquarerestaurant.com.