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How to Make Orecchiette Pasta with Vegetables

How to Make Orecchiette Pasta with Vegetables

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Todd Gray
Executive Chef/Co-Owner, Equinox
http://www.equinoxrestaurant.com  
202-331-8118

Since opening Equinox in 1999 to universal acclaim, Todd Gray has emerged as one of the surest culinary talents in the nation's capital, as well as a tireless champion of sustainable farming and fishing practices, and a passionate promoter of local, mid-Atlantic foods. Gray practices what he preaches every day, and Equinox is widely acclaimed as an oasis of sophisticated yet unpretentious seasonal cuisine.

With an artist's vision of the beauty in both his raw ingredients and his finished plates, classical training in culinary techniques gained in DC's top French and Italian kitchens, and a down-home Virginia boy's appreciation for food that just plain tastes good, Todd Gray is the culinary mastermind of Equinox, infusing the atmosphere with his passion for the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic. Todd continues to work with local farmers developing food of all varieties, form lettuce to beef, taking personal stock in the animals and produce being raised.

Gray's cooking has earned him five nominations for the prestigious Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic award from the James Beard Foundation. He also is a four-time nominee for Chef of the Year from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Equinox has consistently been rated one of the city's top restaurants by many local publications, and has appeared on numerous "best of" lists in national epicurean magazines. Equinox has achieved Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence six years in a row, and is consistantly recognized with the Award of Excellence from the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNa). Todd has also just received a nomination for Chef of the year through the RAMW for 2008

How to Make Orecchiette Pasta with Vegetables

This video series will demonstrate how to make orecchiette pasta with vegetables--including how to blanch, shock and saute the delicious ingredients.

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Pasta

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Dough

,

Blanch

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Shock

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Cook

,

Prepare

,

Boil

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Asparagus

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Flour

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Shallots

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Garlic

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Cheese

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Parmesan

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Dinner

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Dine

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Meal

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How to Make Orecchiette Pasta with Vegetables

Ingredients

2 cups semolina flour
1 tablespoon of salt
2 cups of warm water
Butter
Olive oil
Shallots
Garlic
Asparagus tips
Rainbow swiss chard
Diced carrots
1/2 cup of heavy cream
Parmesan Reggiano

Instructions

1. Add the flour to a mixer, turn it on low and add the salt and warm water. When the dough starts to pull away from the side increase the speed to a number 4 on the mixer.


2. Put the dough on a floured work surface and being kneading it. Wrap the dough and place it in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight.


3. Cut the dough into pieces and roll the pieces into even cylindrical shapes. Cut the cylinders into small quarter inch rounds and push the dough into ear-shaped pieces to form the orecchiette pasta.


4. Put salt into boiling water and drop a wire basket filled with pasta into the water. Have a bowl of ice water next to the boiling pasta. When it is cooked for 4 minutes, plunge it into the ice water and shock it for 30 seconds. Toss the pasta in a bowl with olive oil.


5. Cut the asparagus into 1 inch lengths. Salt the boiling water and place the asparagus into a wire basket in the water. After 60 seconds, remove the basket and plunge it in the ice water.


6. Place a pan on medium heat and add olive oil and butter. Add shallots and minced garlic and saute for a minute. Add the Swiss chard, asparagus and diced carrots.


7. Add the orecchiette pasta to the pan with pepper, mustard and heavy cream. Mix the pasta, vegetables and sauce together. Let it simmer for about a minute.

 

 

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Transcripts

Todd Gray: Hi, I am Todd Gray from Equinox Restaurant in Washington DC. Today we are going to be making handmade orecchiette, the ear-shaped pasta with spring vegetables, swiss chard, and asparagus.

We have got an ingredient list of semolina flour, salt and water for our pasta dough, butter, olive oil, shallots, garlic, our asparagus tips, rainbow swiss chard, dice carrots, heavy cream, and finally Parmesan Reggiano to finish our dish.

We are going to need some basic equipment and tools to do our dish. Stand-up mixer, a short knife, a salad cutting board, a microplaner to finish our dish with the Parmesan for grating, a pot for blanching, a stainless steel mixing bowl, a mesh drainer, and saut pan for finishing our dish.

Remember when we are in the kitchen so always practice safety first. We are always around shape knives and open flames so lets be careful when we are working we stay in the kitchen and not in the emergency room.

A brief bio on Equinox Restaurant and myself. We opened in 1999. We were nominated by Esquire Magazine, Gourmet and Town & Country for Best New Restaurant in 1999. In the nine years with my wife, I have had the restaurant. We have been nominated by the Restaurant Association of Washington five times for the Fine Dinning Restaurant of the year. I have been nominated six times by the Restaurant Association for Chef of the Year and I have been fortune enough to receive five nominations by the James Beard Foundation for the Best Chef Mid Atlantic Region.

I have chosen this dish for you today for three reasons. It showcase seasonality with asparagus and swiss chard, it emphasizes great technique, we are going to show you how to hand make this pasta, and three it is a very successful recipe thats easy for you to prepare at home. Lets get started by making our pasta dough.

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