Foodie Friday…Magnificent Mezzelune

I’ve been following Salty Seattle, aka Linda Miller Nicholson, on Instagram for a few years now. The pasta she makes is gorgeous, creative and fun! I pre-ordered her book back in 2018 and was so excited when it arrived. I’ve never really had any desire to make my own pasta, but this book changed that! I dug in, borrowed an electric pasta maker and made polka dot farfalle … check this out… which was fun, but it did take quite awhile because I was so new to the whole process.

Fast forward to 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic. I, obviously, had some time on my hands! As I said, I had borrowed an electric pasta maker when I made it back in 2018, so I got online and bought a simple manual one during week two of the stay-at-home order.

I also ordered butterfly pea flower because I had visions of deep blue and white striped pasta.

My first pretty pasta attempt with the new machine was a blue and white striped pesto stuffed mezzelune, which was beautiful, but because I’m new to it, the making of the dough took me longer than I think it probably should and I’m not sure my consistency & thickness were spot on.

I used the leftover blue pasta to make some really good, thinner, fettuccine noodles … if I do say so myself. I paired the fettucinne with a brown butter sauce … my mouth waters just thinking about it. How much weight do you think I might gain during this pandemic? Yikes!!

At the same time I was thinking about my pasta consistency, Linda, who was also at home and not running her usual pasta workshops, decided to make the whole rainbow of pasta doughs and sell it to local Seattleites, with no-contact safe pick up. I love the gutsiness and ingenuity of the entrepreneurial spirit! I asked her if it was available to be shipped to California. The first few weeks it wasn’t …and then last week she put it on her instagram for overnight orders within the US. It sold out quickly and I was one of the lucky buyers!

It arrived yesterday morning in all it’s beautiful splendor (see pic above)! I couldn’t wait to get started on some fun, whimsical creations … what colors to choose? what patterns? what filling? I decided to make the mezzelune again, because I think it’s a bit less time consuming than ravioli. I also decided on a tried and true favorite filling/sauce… chicken goat cheese with a butter vermouth sauce. Here are the beautiful results …

If you’re at all interested in making pasta you have to buy Linda’s book, Pasta Pretty Please! Some of her commentary is so irreverent and so much fun to read … in addition to making you want to start making your own pasta!

Sidenote: It’s quite a lot of dough, so, as Linda suggested, I divided the dough into smaller portions and froze the rest to use for future fabulous pastas!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!