The Lederman Kitchen

Last Saturday night was quite the treat in the Lederman Kitchen. Brian woke up on a mission for homemade pasta.  He found a store at the mall that sold pasta rollers and headed there first thing.  I don't know if it's because we had been making a lot of fresh pasta in San Francisco and it's now been 3 months since he has made it, or if it was our recent trip to Rome , that put him over the edge, but there was no stopping him. If a dinner of homemade pasta wasn't enough already, I went with Brian to the store and couldn't resist a box of fresh Irish strawberries and decided that I should probably make a shortcake to accompany them.  A wild Saturday night was looming in our future...In our defense, Brian has been traveling every week for work and a night in to recover was very much needed. Brian had planned to make Cacio e Pepe, a dish we had on our Unexpected Second Honeymoon in Rome, and one of the best pasta dishes we have ever tasted.  And as a starter, mus...

We finally found a home for our dried fettuccine  in this creamy and delicious mushroom pasta.  The base for this recipe is a super simple bechamel sauce .  It's a great base sauce to have in your repertoire.  Trust me, it's easy, and a bit healthier than making white sauces with heavy cream.  There is of course butter though... For a delicious dinner for 4 you will need:  1lb of pasta  2 lbs of mixed mushrooms 1/2 lb of sausage (casings removed) 1/2 onion 2 cloves of garlic 4 cups of baby spinach 1/2 stick of butter 4 tablespoons of flour 2 cups of milk pinch of nutmeg olive oil salt and pepper Parmesan cheese You are of course welcome to use any types of mushrooms that you like.  I used crimini, portabello, and oyster mushrooms.   Portabellos have dark gills on the bottom that will turn everything brown.   I suggest scraping them off with a spoon to avoid any discol...

Who doesn't like spaghetti and meatballs?  What can be a good dish is made great with homemade spaghetti, sauce, and meatballs.   This recipe was plenty of food for a delicious dinner for 4, plus at least 2 lunches. For the sauce: 1/4 cup of olive oil 4 cloves of garlic 2 shallots 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 28 ounce cans of whole plum tomatos 2 cups of fresh chopped basil For the pasta: 4 large eggs 1 tbs water 3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt For the meatballs: 3/4 cup day old country bread 1/3 cup of milk 3/4 lb ground turkey 1/4 lb chicken sausage 1 onion, chopped 3 tablespoons parsley, chopped 1 tablespoon dried thyme 1 egg 1 cup parmesan cheese First things first, get working on the sauce.  To start, just chop of up garlic, basil, and shallot. Heat the olive oil in a stock pot and add the veggies.  Cook for about 5 minutes until soft and fragrant. Then add the...

I went through a good decade long stint of only ordering Frutti di Mare at Italian restaurants.  Frutti di Mare is basically a big mix of seafood pasta.  A lot of places prepare this dish in a tomato sauce, but I prefer mine with a white wine, garlic, lemon sauce.  After 3 months with the pasta press, I finally had to make my favorite. For a delicious dinner for 4: 1 batch of fresh pasta dough (or store bought if you want to cheat) 1/4 cup of olive oil 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes 3 cloves of garlic 1 cup dry white wine 1 lemon parmesan cheese fresh parsley for garnish salt and pepper Assorted seafood, use as much as you like and whatever you like.  I used: 1 lb of clams 1 lb of mussels 1/2 lb of calamari tubes and tentacles 8 scallops 8 shrimp To get started, prep your seafood.  For the clams and mussels, make sure to scrub and de-beard well.  If there are any open shells, tap them.  If they don't c...