Lucky to have her as my daughter

My Mother's Day was a bit different this year. In past, lil bird has fixed some pretty great fare. Last year was a wonderful yummy brunch but this year I requested a knitting lessons. You can read about my knitting lesson on my blog, French Benefits.

One of my other requests was a cooking session together. I love that. I'd been watching Jamie Oliver at home and he had cooked a quick and terrific looking fresh pasta with broccoli and cheese sauce. I have a pasta machine, it was a gift from doodles, and what better than to whip up a nice lunch together. Dad gets to benefit from this holiday, too.

The recipe on Food TV is a bit different from what he made on the show and we adapted the process for our needs.
The sauce is made on top of the pan boiling your pasta water. How great is that for an energy saver?

Sauce

• 2 hand fulls of grated parmaesan and fontina cheese
• 2 heaping tablespoons of creme fraiche

place this in a heat proof bowl on top of the boiling water for the pasta.

• baby broccoli, sliced thin
• 2 large egg yolks
• chopped fresh herbs, we used thyme

Pasta

• 2 large eggs
• 80 grams AP flour per person

Add eggs and flour to food processor. Mix until the dough comes together. Now this is important, pinch some dough between your fingers. You are looking for dough that just holds together and isn't too sticky. If it is, add a tablespoon of flour, mix and then test again. You don't want the dough too stiff.

Give it a quick kneading on a lightly floured board and then into the pasta machine on the
widest setting; running it through about 4-5 times. It should start to become silky and smooth.

Now you need to reduce the thickness on the machine, rolling the dough twice each time, until you get to the thinnest. You'll need to cut the dough into more manageable pieces because it's gonna get real long, real quick.

Flour each sheet, fold and cut into the width noodle you'd like. Remember, they do get bigger when they cook. Toss to open up the noodles.



Yes, that is a bandadge on my finger and, yes, I cut it but I am wearing my favorite Dave Matthews Band t-shirt.




















Remove the dish with the cheeses they should be nice and melty by now. Toss the sliced broccoli and the noodles in the boiling water salted water and stirring bring back to a boil and cook for about two minutes. You'll need to test the pasta. Don't overcook or they'll get too soft.

Drain the pasta then put it into your serving bowl.Whisk in the two egg yolks and herbs into the sauce and quickly pour over the hot pasta. This cooks the eggs. If you are at all concerned about this you can use Davidson's Eggs. They are pasteurized so you won't get salmonella. Their website has a nice coupon because they're a bit pricey.





Serve this up quickly, Dad was waiting, with a bit of chopped Italian parsley. It couldn't taste fresher.

This is one of the basic recipes you'd like to make again. Lil bird thought it would be great with a bit of lemon zest in the pasta and maybe some crispy panchetta tossed in too.

It was a great Mother's Day, wouldn't have it any other way, me and my little chickie cooking together.