Category: recipes

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Recipe for Bitters with Clementines and Raisins from Rich Shih

recipe for bitters using grilled clementines with raisins
recipe for bitters using grilled clementines and raisins

This recipe for bitters comes from Rich Shih of OurCookquest. Besides the blog he has, he’s also the co-author of the book Koji Alchemy with Jeremy Umansky. They’re both guests this week on our Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. While these aren’t traditional bitters, this is a good jumping off point.

Recipe for Bitters

In Rich’s words:

“I never miss an opportunity to char fruit over screaming hot coals after I’m done grilling. The caramelization and scorched bitter bits is an unforgettable combo. 
I saw clementines on the table, and flamed citrus peel immediately came to mind. I started splitting them to put on the grill, and saw a pint of flame raisins. Figuring raisins in clementine juice would bloom when intensely heated, I jammed one raisin into each segment of a few halves. Onto the grill they went.

Success! I ate one skin and all. It was a killer complex combination of flavors and textures. The raisins transformed into bursts of jelly and the skin tasted like smoky orange bitters. It was so good I couldn’t help but bang out a cocktail. I grabbed the Boston shaker and muddled a packed clementine into a Negroni. Strained it into a glass of ice, added a touch of seltzer and kicked back to enjoy.

So the next time your grill is still hot, go ahead and put any fruit on and taste what happens. As always, stay inspired and keep the ideas bouncing.”

What Do You Think?

This is a very loose interpretation of bitters, but it’s a great idea. This is how Rich tends to operate. He doesn’t always write recipes, as much as he gives you a great idea as a jumpoing off point. So, are these bitters? Do you have a favorite recipe for bitters? What would you do with these clementines? Let me know in the comments.

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Homemade Pasta Recipe from Pasta-making Instructor Laurie Boucher

a recipe for homemade pasta
a recipe for homemade garganelli pasta

About Laurie Boucher and Her Pasta Instruction Business

If you want to learn how to make homemade pasta, I have the recipe for you right here. This recipe comes from pasta instructor Laurie Boucher of Baltimore Home Cook. She is one of our podcast guests, and you can find the show, and more information about her, here. Laurie is a self-described attorney turned pasta-preneur, and is the woman behind the Instagram account @BaltimoreHomeCook. We discuss how she got into pasta-making, and her pasta-related activities which include selling pasta boards and hard to find Sardinian pasta cutters, as well as the pasta-shaped jewelry and ornaments that she makes. She also does pasta-making classes. We talk about her culinary school experience, some of her favorite culinary resources, and the new Arcobaleno pasta extruder that she recently picked up.

Garganelli can be formed on a smooth surface, or a ridged or beautifully textured surface. Because of its texture, it helps sauce cling to the pasta. You can use a small gnocchi board, a butter paddle, a silicone sushi mat (all easily found online), or some other hand carved textured board.

Do you have a favorite homemade pasta recipe? If so, I’d love to know. Leave a comment below.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups semolina or semola rimacinata

1 TBS crushed saffron

2/3 cup hot water

*extra semolina for dusting your finished pasta

small 1/4 ” dowel or end of a wooden spoon (can use different sized dowels for different sized garganelli), silicone sushi mat, gnocchi board or butter paddle

Instructions

Crush your saffron with a mortar/pestle or with your fingertips. Add saffron to hot water, stir, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, add your flour and make a small well. Add in the water, stirring with a fork to incorporate. Make sure you get all the saffron in there!

Once you have a shaggy dough formed, dump the dough onto your work surface and knead 10-15 minutes by hand. If the dough seems dry, spritz with a bit of water, if the dough seems sticky, add a bit of flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

Once you have a smooth ball of pasta dough, wrap in cling film and let rest for 30 minutes. Using a pasta machine, sheet the dough until it is at the second thinnest setting. Cut out 3″ squares using a knife or a pasta bicycle.

Place your small square of dough onto the textured surface like a diamond. Place your dowel in the center of the pasta, pull the bottom tip up and over and with pressure roll the pasta around the dowel.

Remove the garganelli, place on a semolina dusted baking sheet. Rest at room temperature for 1 hour and then cover and refrigerate or flash freeze.

Cook in salted boiling water for about 4 minutes, but test your pasta for desired tenderness.