Florentine Pasta Roses

Better late than never. Things have been pretty busy on this end, but that doesn't mean that something tasty can't come out of the chaos every once and a while. This dish was made at the end of a perfect, chill day. I got to spend some time at the State Farmer's Market, hang out with some good friends, and serve something delicious at the end of it all.

Here is the recipe for Florentine Pasta Roses, inspired by the game Assassin's Creed II. Lots of people died in this game, and it's only proper to pay our respects with roses.

A little tip when making these elegant, little pretties. Don't be afraid to trim them to better fit your pan. Also, slitting the top with a paring knife will help these blossoms really bloom. I will do that next time I make another bouquet.


This is a traditional dish out of Romagna, Italy. I wanted to put a Florentine twist on them, though, since the main character of the game hails from Florence, a major country on my "Bucket List". A big player in Florentine cuisine is spinach, and I incorporated another big player - broccoli - into the salad accompanying this dish.

First, let's get the sauce for this together.

Pasta Rose Sauce
4 Tbl. unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbl. tomato paste
Pinch of nutmeg

Add your butter and heavy cream to any saucier, deep pan, or pot and heat to medium. Let this reduce, bubbling away for about 4-5 minutes.

Add your tablespoon of tomato paste, and whisk gently to dissolve. Let this reduce for another 4-5 minutes, or until your sauce reaches a buttermilk consistency.



The Pasta Roses
Pasta Sheets
Spinach
Prosciutto (8-10 oz.), strips
Fontina cheese, strips
**If you're trying to save a bit of money, feel free to substitute with provolone. It's not as creamy, but it is really smooth.**
Olive Oil (about 1/4 cup)


Start with the spinach. I picked up one bunch from my local super market. You want to remove the stems, blanch (or boil for about 3 minutes), and then shock in an ice bath. This is like a big kick start to the spinach's flavor, and will render a really nice color.

Set these prepped, deep green leaves to the side, we'll use them later!

Next, start boiling your pasta sheets. You want to do just a few at a time, or you'll get a big, lopsided mass of noodles. So, once your 4-5 sheets are al dente, shock them in your ice bath once more, and start another batch. Repeat as many times as necessary.

So, pull a pasta sheet between two fingers, rinsing starch off the surface, before applying a light coating of olive oil. Roll up your strips of spinach, prosciutto and fontina - slice this thin, you can prep this in advance with the spinach, too! - and trim according to the size you prefer for your blossom. I made relatively small ones, so I wound up splitting each pasta sheet in half.

Line your pan - I used a pie pan - with a thin layer of sauce, and start standing your blossoms up. You top the blossoms with more of the sauce, or serve that on the side. Garnish with grated Parmesan, or provolone.

Bake your bouquet at 450(F) for 15 minutes, and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Splitting the tops, allowing the pasta bloom, all of this eliminates the "pasta tulips" possibility.

Broccoli and Apple Salad
Mixed greens
Sliced apples
Diced basil
Sliced cucumber
Roughly chopped broccoli florets

Combine these ingredients in a big bowl!


I used pink ladies and winesap apples. They are both a little tart, with the pink ladies proving to be somewhat sweeter than the winesaps. It's so tasty with the cukes and broccoli, just another reason I love adding fruit to salads.

Toss with dressing, and if you like salt and pepper (make it grate!)



Homemade Florentine Dressing In all of the excitement, I forgot the lemon for this recipe. I substituted with pomegranate juice. The taste was still there, but lemon would have really driven this dressing home. Try not to forget your lemon like I did!
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
4 sliced cloves garlic
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1 1/3 olive oil
3 tsp. lemon juice

Give your herbs a rough chop or grind to start releasing their flavors.

Basil, rosemary, parsley, and thyme are seen as traditional Florentine herbs.

Steep the garlic, thyme, basil, parsley, and rosemary in the apple cider vinegar for 1 hour. If you let it steep for hours you'll get an herby mush that tastes earthy rather than light and aromatic. Smell is largely connected to taste, so try not to forget!

Strain all of this into the mixed together olive oil and lemon juice.

Shake it all up and chill. Try and do this close to serving time, or you'll get a big block of olive oil over the separated vinegar. Toss with your favorite salad, or use it for a veggie dip.

Most importantly: Enjoy!!



Coming up next we put motion sickness, dystopian futures, and parkour to the test in Mirror's Edge.

Assassin's Creed II

The assassin's feet and hands are on fire as he climbs a cathedral, closer to the hawk above. The creature's call an encouragement only he hears: keep going, keep going. So, the assassin pushes himself, every moment or so caressed by the circling shadow with the wide wingspan. Finally, he arrives to the top, and beholds Florence. The Duomo sits fat and proud like a well fed noble. The rooftops shimmer with a fresh coating of rain, and ashen clouds overhead have not yet cleared. The world echoes up here, faint sounds of civilization pierced by the hawk's cry. The assassin spreads his arms, springs off through the tips of his feet. His white robes rattle in combat with the air, and a mound of straw breaks his fall. He rolls to his feet, dry gold flaking from his shoulders as he blends into the crowd, never to be seen, and only later to be heard in the alarm bells announcing his target's death.

Just another moment for Ezio, the hero of Ubisoft's anticipated sequel: Assassin's Creed II.

'Sup, bitches.

The game has shifted, changed a few things around this time. There is more emphasis on the dramatic as opposed to the systematic. The missions, the characters, the dialogue is engaging considering the last game was: listen to these dudes, pickpocket that guy, beat him up for his info, now go kill your target, and this just repeated over and over again. Connecting you to your target this time are a series of events and plot points that eventually lead you to their bloody end. Although there are familiar ways to complete missions that range from distractions to combat, the missions themselves are never the same.

Limbo!

Ubisoft delivers on all levels with this game. They bring new mechanics, straighten out some older ones, and present a hypnotic game to the audience. One of the big changes is this ancestor knows how to swim, so now when he crashes into water from seventeen stories up he does not start flailing around like a semi-retarded cat only to inevitably sink. The first thing I actually did in the game to lose an enemy, was dive off a bridge, and held my breath beneath a bunch of reeds until the coast was clear. There are many other new surprises, but I don't want to spoil them all. Suffice it to say that many of the new moves are served to the player in a way resembling a five course meal. You don't just get a pile of new tricks, rather you receive them in segments.

Are you watching? Are you watching?! I'm gonna dive now. I'm gonna div - You're not watching!

Honestly, to go over every single new dynamic of this game would spoil most of the fun in playing it. Think back to when you played the first game, you Assassin's Creed fans out there! Jumping rooftop to rooftop, pouncing your targets with that hidden blade, taking your first leap of faith, the first kill, the mystery surrounding Abstergo - if you were like me and were totally into investigating the ever loving shit out of that - and everything in between. It was fun, it was exhilarating, and unlike Tenchu, it was a stealth assassin game that actually worked! The game did have some problems, but Ubisoft is hardly afraid of confronting these. They go back, they revisit what works, what doesn't work, and go from there. What's awesome about Assassin's Creed II is that not only have they taken some of their smaller problems and improved upon them, but they have even brought some improvements to the table that I wasn't even aware were problems in the first game. For example, this game has WAY more prostitutes than its predecessor.

Dramatization.

And not only will they give you cover, but they can also lure guards away, granting you smooth sailing to whatever it was they were guarding in the first place. Usually, they are guarding glimmering chests containing "codex" pages, which you can bring to probably the coolest supporting character since this guy.

Now, pay attention.

Leonardo DaVinci is your BFFF, the wind beneath your wings, the whiskers on kittens and raindrops on roses, and therefore one of your favorite things. MVP of this game goes to him, hands down. He modifies your weapons, he supports your endeavors, and he does it all with a big, happy smile on his face.

He invented the WHEEL! And everything you love. Even that sandwich.

He is not the only Italian Renaissance celebrity to make an appearance. You go head-to-head with the Pazzi family and you come to the aid of the Medicis, and all of this on the canvases of Florence, Venice, Tuscany, and eventually Rome. The environments are stunning, and you see them in varying atmospheres. Sometimes, Ezio will be traveling across a rooftop's tiles, ruby red on a perfect sunny day. Other circumstances will have him sprinting through puddles, escaping down an alley beneath dark rain clouds over head. Your shadow is longer at sunset, and at night you are a near shadow as you pull yourself out of moonlit Venice waters. The effect and scope of the game is breathtaking at times, from small moments like Ezio shrugging his cloak back into place as he walks, to larger moments standing under a firework lit sky at a Carnevale party. Which brings me to a difficult realm.

Looks like those Ezio and Leonardo boys is in trouble ageen.

There is a pressing argument out there that video games cannot be considered art, be that cinematic or otherwise. Considering some of our games are in landfills, at the bottom of Gamestop wire frame bins, and even labeled notorious, this is not too surprising. A major argument against video games involve the interruptions of save points, and because the player is manipulating the game itself there is no total immersion such as when one is looking at a painting, or regarding a film. The other side of the argument is that video games can be seen as a new artistic medium.

"... Son of a - "

That they provide a sense of escapism, which is often compared to art. That they can elicit an emotional response and connection from a player. I can see an example of this just looking back at my last post regarding my relationships in Dragon Age Origins. Both sides have their valid points, and I know where I stand (it should be obvious), but if this does generate any discussion I'd be more interested to see where others are on this. I know for a fact that some people I work with would take personal offense to someone saying what they do 40+ hours a week is not art, but I know others that would look at a video game - seriously? Pac-Man? - and wonder why we'd even waste our time with this debate.

OhshitOhshitOhshit!

To me, Assassin's Creed II hits a sweet spot between these two arguments, with a heavier inclination to "art". But, all of that tomfoolery aside, the game is worth checking out. If not for its beauty, then for the game-play, and if not for the game-play, you'll still have a decent story to walk away with. The characters are interesting, the actual game play is smooth as silk, and the view is incredible. This one is not to be missed.

Score: 8 out of 10
Replayability 1
Design 2
Story 1
Sound 2
Gameplay & Mechanics 2

Walking away with the first perfect score, Assassin's Creed II is worth every penny. The improvements and the newest additions work well together, the environments are detailed and impossible to ignore. Gameplay is intuitive, easy to pick up, and functional. Story is engaging, and even if plot isn't your thing, you'll have a grand ole time on Ezio's path of vengeance.

Stay tune for the dish inspired by the game!

Florentine Pasta Roses!

Stay Tuned!

So, I had some awesome company this past weekend. Erik, one of Andy's really close friends, visited. We saved the world from nano-bots, watched lots of football, and we also got to head out to the Retrofantasma double feature of "Ghost Story" and "It Came... Without Warning".



Needless to say, it was awesome. However, I could not complete Assassin's Creed 2, so stay tuned this week for the review, and then stay tuned next week for the recipe. I figure since I'm not slapping the review up here this go around, I can at least reveal the dish, yeah?

Florentine Pasta Roses. It's important to pay respect after all!

Campfire Stew (or Whose Ingredient Is It Anyway?)

So, I got a little cocky and probably should have expected that at some point one of these recipes would utterly blow up in my face as a result. The Campfire Stew is the humble maker.

I mixed apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, paprika, and some dried herbs (oregano, cumin, and ground rosemary), and then tossed three chicken thighs in this. While they braised in a 250(F) oven for 2-3 hours, I enjoyed a Hammer revenge flick.



Then, I began to brown the chorizo. I tossed in a chopped sweet onion and a large sweet green pepper with two finely diced garlic cloves and cooked these vegetables tender.



The chicken was de-boned and added. Following the chicken, I added a tomato paste concoction, a cup of chicken stock, and a splash of red wine.

And this was where everything really hit the fan.

Already, I had my misgivings about the food. I braised the chicken for too long - dry. The chorizo's consistency was not to my liking either. The vegetables were delicious, especially that sweet pepper. The flavors were blending rather nicely, and the wine totally tipped the scale.


Seen, here, tipping the scale.

Here is where I went wrong with making a stew like this.

1) The meat.
Chicken and chorizo. I should have picked one or the other, and in retrospect if I only had these two I would have gone with chicken. Unless you are cooking it in the casing, the chorizo gave me more of a chili consistency. Not what I wanted, I already have a chili recipe. In the future though, I will probably go with a red meat like lamb, venison or beef.


That's right, I'm coming for you!

2) The wine.
I never thought I would see the day that I would curse the name of alcohol so vehemently. A dry red would probably not have been such murder on any other stew if that stew were made with dark meat, or if that meat had been braised in the wine instead. Instead, I should have gone with a dry sherry. It's a bit more sweet, but despite this much more subtle than say... the dry red.

3) The pool.
Too many liquids. The chicken stock, the paste, the fat from the chorizo, and wine was drowning my stew, which is generally thicker than a soup.

So really, this has become a post about improvising in the kitchen, which is very similar to -


And Ming Na was not much of a help in my kitchen either. Boo, Mulan.

Okay, so, maybe it's not exactly like that? But sometimes a cooking project can be devastating when it bottoms out, and it becomes a whirlwind of activity to save it. I made this great batch of tomato sauce once and thought it was cool enough to jar. The second I put that jar down, the bottom shattered, and I really wanted to salvage it, despite the more rational side kicking in, saying: Rae, you can't serve glass with stuffed shells. The people just aren't ready.


Not ready.

The image I had of this homage to Dragon Age was facing total meltdown, and at this point I just wanted it to taste good.

The Fix.

To thin the stew pool out, I sliced up a Russet potato. I would totally not recommend Russet potato for a stew in any other situation. They are really great for mashed potatoes because if you heat them up enough they'll fall apart which is awesome for mashing. For stews though? You'll get potato slush. However, since this potato was being added late to the party, there was not much time or opportunity for it to fall apart. The starch in the potatoes seeped into the stew and began to thicken it up.

To fix the wine dilemma, I wound up adding about 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey and a can of diced tomatoes. The sweetness of the honey mellowed that harsh dry red wine taste, and the acidity of the tomatoes cut the rest of it.

So, was the dish saved? Yeah, it really was. It was delicious. I served it with quinoa and the red wine - we're cool now, obviously - and it was really yummy. I got to eat this meal on my BRAND NEW TABLE that my mom and her husband picked up for us.

In the end though... maybe I should have stuck with the Mabari crunch and a tall order of Lyrium. Those will definitely pop up on here eventually. I'm thinking in March when the expansion for Dragon Age Origins rolls around. I'm just too tickled by the idea to truly let it go.



I really want to try this stew again as well. I'm thinking venison, shallots, red potato, carrots, and fresh out of the pod peas. Anyone have any other suggestions? Believe me, after this big bowl of humble, I'm open to any tips, and ready to tackle the next dish which will be inspired by next week's game - Assassin's Creed II.


"Campfire Stew" made with chorizo and chicken, served on a bed of quinoa and a side of culprit red wine.

Kryptonite

So, on the way back home yesterday my stomach was seized by a vicious stomach bug that has reduced me to nibbling on apples, sucking down ginger ale, and picking through Luigi's cherry Italian ice. What a foodie nightmare!

Not only that, but the funds are depleted.

I can definitely promise the Antivan stew and possibly Mabari crunch. In the future, should I get to the "Lyrium", it will be posted.

Until then, I gotta recover.

Leave some love, and look for the Dragon Age recipe next Monday.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year!

Before I got sick, I managed to shoot a couple sketches with Andy and the Digitribe crew. Check 'em out!