Gnocchi Workshop at Two Blokes Brewing

My culinary workshops at Two Blokes Brewing in Mount Pleasant, SC are both educational and enjoyable in this relaxed atmosphere! At this particular March 28th workshop everyone learned how to make homemade potato gnocchi! The best part was cooking up what you made and smothering the freshly made gnocchi with prepared sauces at the chaffing stations.  The variety of sauces to choose from at this class consisted of tomato-basil sauce, vodka sauce and white wine and dry cream sherry cheese sauce. Also included, fresh baked rosemary focaccia for appetizer, a spring fennel & citrus salad with tangerine dressing and giant chocolate chip cookies for dessert. All of these recipes available on this website, click on the hyper link to go to the preferred recipe.

Here’s some pics from the very fun gnocchi workshop and a recipe link as well!

Click HERE for Potato Gnocchi Recipe:

Valentine’s Day Pasta workshop at Two Blokes Brewing on Tuesday, February 14, 2023!

We have your Valentines Day plans set at Two Blokes! Learn to make homemade pasta from Chef Michel Vejar with your special someone or some friends this Valentine’s Day!

The Workshop includes a class where you will learn everything you need to make pasta, then you will make your own for dinner! After you are finished, you will enjoy a full meal with the fruits of your labor. Michel will be providing everyone with a Caesar salad, tomato-basil or vodka sauce for the pasta & chocolate crackle cookies.

Get your tickets NOW before they sell out!

Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/valentines-day-couples-pasta-workshop-tickets-494186754887

Click here to go to recipe page for HOMEMADE PASTA

Homemade Pasta 101

For your convenience you can now SHOP on this page for your cooking accessories and ingredients below the written recipe. I am a Amazon associate affiliate so all you have to do is click on each of the product photos and it will take you to purchase that product.

There’s nothing like the tender yet slightly chewy feel and taste of homemade pasta. There are thousands of recipes out there to make homemade pasta. In my test kitchen this recipe is perfectly balanced for achieving the most important qualities in texture and taste for making homemade pasta.

My recipe combines both 00 flour and 00 semolina giving a better texture and mouth feel to your pasta. In our world of easy ordering on Amazon you can get the Caputo Brand in both “00 flour” and a very fine “Semolina Flour – Il Grano Turo” in 2.2 lb. bags delivered same day.

Rule of thumb is homemade pasta is always better the day its made with only a little drying out time, keep it covered with dish towel or saran. It does freeze beautifully, just layer it in between layers of parchment in fettuccine bundles in a hard container so it doesn’t get crushed when you move things around in your freezer. When ready to eat thaw in frig over night, run your fingers thru after they thaw to air out and keep covered until ready to boil or drop the pasta into salted boiling water immediately from frozen form.

Follow my step by step directions below and you’ll feel like a pro making your own homemade pasta. Don’t forget to try some of my sauces like Tomato Basil Sauce, Vodka Sauce, or my Pesto Sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 c. 00 Flour (Caputo Italian Flour) “spoon and measure”
• 1 1/2 c. Semola flour (Caputo Di Grano Duro) “spoon and measure”
• 1/4 c. Semolina Flour (Granule texture) ONLY to keep pasta separated while drying out. NOTE: this does NOT go into the dough mixture
• 4 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1 tbsp. water

Directions:

1. Add flours and salt to food processor, pulse to combine
2. Add in all eggs and water, then pulse just until dough comes together, almost a ball
3. Empty out onto work surface and knead for 10 minutes using dough scrapper to gather little pieces into the dough ball
4. Shape into round disc and cover with saran wrap, let sit 30 minutes
5. Uncover and cut into 6 pieces, 6 triangular shape pieces
6. Take 1 piece at a time, flatten out and put thru #1 on Kitchen Aid pasta roller
7. Fold in 1/2 and put thru at #1 again
8. Next, make trifold (letter fold) and put thru #1 2x more for total of 4x in #1 setting
9. No more folding is needed at this point
10. Now put pasta sheets, WITHOUT folding,  setttings #2, #3 & #4 one time thru
11. Then comtinue 1x on settings # 5 and #6
12. Change out Pasta Roller for Fettucine or linguine rollers and gently feed flat past sheet thru the top of the roller catching molded strands as they come out the bottom
13. Lay down cut pasta onto coarse Semolina to dry out for 15 minutes
14. Repeat with the other pasta wedges until all your pasta is cut
15. Add to salted boiling water for 2 minutes for all-dente pasta and serve with favorite sauce

What to do with leftover Corned Beef…

How fun it is when St. Patrick’s Day rolls around knowing corned beef and all the fixings are going to be on the dinner table.  Well, here’s the answer to all that leftover corned beef now sitting in your frig! So many of you have loved eating my Risotto Reuben Balls appetizer at my demos but they are a little time consuming. So now I have 3 more corned beef appetizers that are not as complicated but equally as satisfying! All of these new appetizers can be also be served with my amazing homemade Thousand Island Dressing.

Appetizer #1 – Reuben Dip. It’s utterly scrumptious and probably a lot less messy to eat then an actual sandwich.

Appetizer #2 – Jalapeno Poppers or Stuffed Mushrooms. The mushroom version for those who can’t handle the pepper heat.

Appetizer #3 – Baked Corned Beef and Cabbage Egg Rolls.  An absolute no brainer for ease and deliciousness!

Appetizer #1 – Reuben Dip

Ingredients for Reuben Dip:

• 1 c. finely chopped corned beef
• 8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/2 c. drained sauerkraut (remove excess moisture with papertowels)
• 1 c. thousand island dressing
• 1 c. shredded swiss cheese
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Directions for Reuben Dip:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°
2. Add all above ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine
3. Add mixture to 9×13 baking dish and bake 15-18 minutes until bubbly around the edges
4. Serve with bagel chips or pita chips

Appetizer #2 – Baked Jalapeños Poppers or Stuffed Mushrooms with Corned Beef

Ingredients for Baked Jalapeño Poppers or Stuffed Mushrooms:

• 12 jalapeños or mushrooms
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2 tbsp. Hellman’s Mayo – (OPTIONAL, makes is lighter)
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, orange
• 1/4 c. shredded swiss cheese
• 1 garlic clove grated
• 3-4 strips crispy bacon, finely chopped
• 1/8 tsp each salt & pepper

Directions for Baked Jalapeño poppers or Stuffed Mushrooms:

1. Per-heat oven to 400°
2. Wearing gloves wash and slice jalapeños length wise thru stem
3. With a small spoon scoop out seeds and white pith
4. Mix all ingredients above in medium bowl
5. Spoon about a tbsp of mixture into each halved jalapeño, should be almost level with edge of pepper
6. Place on a parchment covered cookie tray and bake 12 minutes, just until melted and slightly golden, if you over bake all the stuffing will fall out of limp pepper

Appetizer #3 Corned Beef and Cabbage Egg Rolls:

Ingredients for Corned Beef Egg Rolls:

1. 1 c. shredded corned beef
2. 1 1/2 c. thinly sliced cooked cabbage
3. 1/4 c. shredded raw carrot
4. Canola oil for brushing egg rolls
5. Egg roll wrappers

Directions for Corned Beef Egg Rolls:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°
2. Place sheet of parchment down on cookie tray
3. Add corned beef, cabbage and carrot to a medium size bowl and mix gently to combine
4. Place egg roll wrapper in on work surface with point towards you
5. Add 1/4 c. mixture to the center of egg roll wrapper, slightly below middle
6. Dip your finger in small cup of water and rub on point edges on the opposite side away from you, it will seal the edges
7. Fold up point closest to you up over mixture, then tuck point under mixture
8. Then fold over left and right sides
9. Now begin to roll up egg and place seam side down on parchment paper
10. Once all egg rolls are placed onto cookie tray brush lightly with canola oil, on each side
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden
12. Serve with Thousand Island Dressing or sweet and sour sauce