eat make read

Ummmm…. I don’t know how to say this but I messed this meal up big time. Failure is a bummer, especially when all you have to show is a whole lot of dishes in the sink and a pile of hot pink spaghetti in front of you. I mean look at that spaghetti and try not to laugh. I started off with hopes of making beet-ricotta dumplings. I lovingly prepared them Sunday afternoon, then formed them yesterday evening. Things started to go awry when they weren’t holding together very well, but I forged on anyways. Once I had water boiling I placed them in and shazamm.. they basically disintegrated. Oyyy! What to do, what to do? I mean that’s a whole lot of fresh (pricey) ricotta that I just couldn’t let go to waste. So I pulled out some spaghetti thinking I’d use the ricotta mixture as a kind of sauce. Long story short, hot pink spaghetti is not very good, no matter how much brown butter sage sauce you put on it.

On a more positive note, the rosemary breadsticks were mighty tasty. I snipped some fresh rosemary from my fire escape to use in the dough. As bread goes, this recipe was fairly easy to make, I even did the whole thing after work last night since the rising times were fairly minimal. The result is a crunchy, slightly salty crust with a soft, chewy interior.

To balance out my mistake, I have even more good news. I made dessert last night and it turned out about 18 million times better than the dumplings/spaghetti. Look for it shortly!

rosemary breadsticks
from epicurious
makes 12

1 3/4 cups warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 envelope dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon (generous) chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried
4 cups (or more) bread flour
2 tablespoons cold milk
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Cornmeal
12 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 egg, beaten to blend (glaze)
Coarse salt (optional)

1
Place water in large bowl of electric mixer fitted with dough hook. Add yeast and pinch of sugar; stir to blend. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
2
Add 1 tablespoon salt and chopped rosemary; beat at medium speed until blended.
3
Add 4 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating until well incorporated.
4
Mix milk and oil in small bowl. With mixer running on low speed, gradually add milk mixture. Increase speed to medium; beat 6 minutes. Scrape dough from hook and sides of bowl (dough will be soft and sticky). Let dough rest in bowl 15 minutes.
5
Sprinkle 2 heavy large baking sheets generously with cornmeal.
6
Turn out dough onto floured surface and knead until soft and slightly sticky, adding more flour if necessary. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Let dough rest 10 minutes.
7
Roll each dough piece between work surface and palms of hands to 12-inch long rope. Arrange 6 ropes on each baking sheet, spacing apart. Break small green clusters off rosemary sprigs. Insert stem end of rosemary clusters along top of breadsticks, spacing rosemary 2 inches apart. I did not do that.
8
Using sprayer filled with cold water, lightly mist breadsticks or lightly brush each breadstick using a pastry brush. Let rise uncovered in warm draft-free area until puffy and light, about 30 minutes.
9
Position 1 rack in lowest third of oven and 1 rack in center and preheat to 450°F.
10
Brush breadsticks lightly with egg glaze. Sprinkle very lightly with coarse salt, if desired.
11
Place baking sheets on racks in oven and spray oven with water. Bake 15 minutes, spraying oven with water every 5 minutes, spraying oven with water every 5 minutes. Continue baking without spraying until breadsticks are golden and sound hollow when tapped, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer breadsticks to racks; cool. (Can be made ahead. Wrap tightly in foil and freeze up to 2 weeks. Thaw breadsticks. If desired, rewarm wrapped sticks in 350°F oven 15 minutes.)