A Taste of Italy

Last week was a super rainy week on Vancouver Island, including high winds.  It was a stay inside and drink tea kind of week.  Saturday we had to work all day to play catch up so Sunday was finally a day off and the sun came out! I cleaned the entire house and then we took a long walk with Buddy.  So many beautiful leaves here this time of year.  The picture above is a maple tree, we have the largest maple leaves in the world according to Guinness Book of Records.  Any time that record gets broken it is usually from somewhere else on Vancouver Island.

After our walk it was finally time to try out our new pasta making machine that we had bought for ourselves for our 12th Anniversary last month.  Hubby happened to be very sick that weekend so I made something else and we have been too busy since to set aside the time to use it.  It really doesn't take that long but since it was our first time there was a learning curve involved.  Suddenly after a few minutes of learning the machine hubby remembered doing the same with his mom, she apparently used a pasta machine to make perogie dough which we will also do at some later point, that is part of the reason why we bought it.  The other reason is we need to immerse ourselves all things Italy based on our travels there next Spring!

Although you can use regular flour we used this recipe and used half regular flour and half semolina flour which makes the pasta taste so much better.  The only place I could buy it at a reasonable cost was at Bulk Barn which was fine as I could buy just the amount I needed.  I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil as no self-respecting Italian would use vegetable oil for pasta making (according to the leaflet that came with our Italian made pasta maker).  

 Really my only job was laying the pasta on the dampened towels - a bit of a fail.  We don't have a pasta dryer but if you intend on eating the pasta immediately it is not necessary, just lay it on damp towels - but be sure to separate each strand otherwise they stick together.  There was a bit of panic once we realized that I had screwed up but as soon as it hit the boiling water most of it separated, thank goodness, it was quite forgiving.  Fresh pasta only takes 1-3 minutes to cook so be sure to have any sauces/other ingredients handy to add to the finished product.  I used a premade Alfredo sauce and fried some shrimp ahead of time just heating them through when the pasta was ready.  It was fabulous!  I was so proud of us.  By the way, I am fully aware Alfredo sauce is not named that in Italy, it is called fettuccine burro e parmigiano (yes, I looked it up). 

Next time I will do a few things differently like make my own sauce but that was just too much for our first time of pasta making.  Also, I will use warmed to room temperature eggs which the recipe doesn't say but again the Italian booklet did (I read that after we made it).  I am glad we bought it and we will likely repeat this 6-10 times a year as it takes about 1 hour from start to finish.  You can premake the dough and let it sit for a half an hour before you get into making it.  The recipe made so much that we had fettuccine left over so we used it last night in our homeade chicken soup.  For anyone thinking of buying a pasta maker this one is made in Italy  - Marcato Atlas 150 and is available on Amazon.  We did alot of research and found that this was the best one in this price range and we are very happy with it.  It will not be something that sits on a shelf, it will get used here as we like eating good homemade food.  

After two years we finally got down to our last 1/2 inch of rice.  This after purchasing 40 lbs of it in September 2015 (blog post here).  This time I was able to get an 8 kg/17.6 pound bag for $10.88.  That is even cheaper per kg than last time at $1.36 a kilo versus $1.49 per kilo last time.  This is Thai Jasmine rice which is my favorite.  Yes, it is white rice which is supposed to not be as good as brown rice for you but frankly - I hate brown rice.  I have tried it several times and still hate it.  I love this Rooster brand rice, very tasty and keeps very well if stored properly.  

I am already over on the monthly food budget but have no further purchases to make unless an emergency and a full fridge and freezer.  Bargain of the week?  The rice and $1.49/pound grapes which are extremely tasty.  I have certain limits on things like fruit and veggies that I am willing to pay and $2 a pound is the usual maximum unless a special occasion so I rarely buy grapes - but lately our local store has put them on once per month for that amount. 

What grocery bargains have you had this month?