Homemade Noodles and Alfredo Sauce, Plus a bit of Spinning

On Friday Larr went climbing at an indoor gym. Ellie was spending the night at Anna's house. That meant that Ethan and I had a night alone together. I thought it would be fun to do something together.

After discussing our options we opted to go to Whole Foods Market and get some fun food for dinner. We also intended to make homemade noodles. We came home with basil pesto, red pepper pesto (which was really very yummy), a nice chunk of Parmesan cheese, a popcorn ball and a lovely chocolate pistachio dessert canoli. I also picked up stuff to make Alfredo sauce.



Ethan made the noodles while I made the sauce. He took the time to separate the yolks from the egg whites by hand. He found the texture and cohesion of the yolk interesting. It was a little rough at first as we were trying a new recipe. In fact, we were not sure that it would come together nicely, but in the end they were the best noodles he has made so far. He made some thick ones, some thin ones and had a little dough left over. We cooked the pasta and had lots of toppings. Each of us ended up with little bird's nest like piles on our plates so that we could taste a little of each topping. It was really quite fun. We also watched Wall-E. It was a perfect way to spend an evening with my boy.

On Saturday we met up with the team for indoor spinning practice. It is not as exciting as riding outside, but I think they had fun seeing everyone again. It was a long, intense and sometimes grueling 2 hour session.



Here are the recipes:

Homemade Noodles

3-5 Egg Yolks
1 Egg Whole, beaten
1 tea. Salt
3-6 TBL. Milk
2 cups Flour, all purpose

We make our noodles by mixing up the dough on a cutting board. Do this by making a pile with the flour and creating a bowl in the center. Place 3 egg yolks, the whole egg and a the salt in a bowl and beat with a fork. Pour this into the well that you have made in the middle of the flour. Use a fork to incorporate the eggs into the flour. Add the milk to the dough as needed. The weather impacts this process greatly. You may have to add the extra egg yolk(s) and milk if the dough is too dry and shaggy. Knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes, cover with plastic and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. It is great if you can let it rest for 1-3 hours, but we were impatient so we rolled it out quickly. Once the dough is done resting cut it into four chunks. Roll out the dough. Put through a pasta machine, if you have one. Otherwise, roll out by hand and cut with a knife. You can cook them immediately by dropping them into boiling water or you can dry and refrigerate them. These are very tasty.

Alfredo Sauce

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3-4 TBL. Cream Cheese
Salt to taste
1/8th (pinch) Nutmeg, ground (use freshly ground nutmeg, if possible.)
1/4 tea. Pepper, ground
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (for a topping)

Melt butterin a saucepan over medium heat. Add 3/4 cup heavy cream, stirring gently. Add in the cream cheese and stir as it heats enough to become mostly melted. Stir in salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Let it cook for about 5 minutes to thicken slightly. Meanwhile, add the egg yolk to the remaining 1/4 of cream. Mix this well, but not vigorously. Add the grated Parmesan cheese, and grated Romano cheese. (You can double the Parmesan if you do not have the Romano) Stir constantly until melted. Gently mix in the then mix in cream and egg yolk. Simmer over medium low heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Garnish with additional grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.