Nerd Journal: MM in the Kitchen and a Progressive Dinner, Part 2: Fresh Pasta with Homemade Pesto and Porcini Mushrooms

Part 1 consisted of Italian-inspired chicken-and-pancetta sausages. So what did the Cine-Sib, Il Barista, and La Parisienne serve with such meaterrific linky love? Pasta! Here's the tale:

That's the Cine-Sib, sorting out the fresh strands of pasta. The crew and I had made it from semolina flour, eggs, and a bit of water, and then we tried out a new kitchen tech-toy: the pasta extruder attachment of Il Barista's Kitchen-Aid. Handy!

Then we tried our hand at making our own pesto sauce. We had fresh basil, pine nuts, and a goofy-looking kitchen tool called a mezzaluna. It looks odd, but it worked fabulously! It chopped up the basil and nuts into bits, and then we turned into a gorgeous dark green sauce with some extra virgin olive oil. (Please, nbobody say "EVOO" -- we hate Rachael Ray with an unreasoning rage.)

Next on the agenda: chopping up porcini mushrooms into tiny dice and then sauteeing them with olive oil. The green stuff is a bit of baby spinach.

That's the finished product -- fresh pasta speckled with homemade pesto and porcini mushrooms. It was divine! Of course, in the cooking process, we managed to speckle the entire kitchen with porcini bits too, but oh, well!

We then outdid ourselves by making a sinfully delicious dessert (3 guesses what and the first 2 don't count), but that's for another post!