Homemade Egg Noodles

Pasta making isn't anything new to me (see here and here) and something I love doing, so dog-earing the page on Homemade Egg Noodles in the Saveur 100 was a given. This time, however, I went back to the old-school way of rolling and cutting by hand rather than the method I'd become accustomed to as of late - using a pasta maker.

Up until a little over a year ago, I was hand rolling and cutting pasta each time the desire to make it fresh hit. Going back to basics this time proved to be very satisfying. My oldest daughter sat at the table while I worked and we chatted as I rolled and cut.

I had already decided what the noodles were to go into before I started - classic chicken and noodles. My family loved every last morsel, even the pickiest exclaiming how good it was. I had several of them come back for seconds (and one for thirds!) and they all left more satisfied than I'd expected. True bliss for a mom of seven.

The recipe for Jeannette Lander's Homemade Egg Noodles can be found at Saveur.com.

Classic Chicken and Noodles

One 3 to 3 1/2 pound chicken
2 stalks celery
2 medium carrots
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
several sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper
1 batch Homemade Egg Noodles

Clean the chicken inside and out, rinsing well. Place in a large pot.

Scrub and roughly chop veggies and add to pot with garlic, thyme and bay leaf.
Cover with water and set over a high flame.
The moment the pot starts to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken and veggies from the pot to a large bowl, saving broth.
Once chicken is cool enough, remove skin and bones and cut meat into chunks.
Chop carrot if desired and add to chicken. Set aside.
Boil a large pot of salted water and add noodles. Boil until al dente, about 4 minutes for fresh noodles. Remove noodles from water and keep warm.
Heat 4 cups of leftover chicken stock and thicken slightly with beurre manier (equal parts butter and flour kneaded together and added by whisking small amounts in until thickening occurs) before adding back in chicken and noodles.
Stir well, add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Saveur 100 - My Favorite of All

The Saveur 100 for 2010 is quite possibly my favorite issue of Saveur ever. Back in July I read of the upcoming issue and the call for submissions from readers, something Saveur had not done when compiling past issues of the 100. I was immediately interested and thought I might send something in to them, but the realization of what exactly my 'favorite person, place or thing in the world of food' was halted me.

I've eaten foods that are pure bliss; been to restaurants I think everyone on the planet should visit at least once; shopped at article-worthy farmer's markets and shared ovens with some of the finest cooks and chefs ... and yet, the one thing that is my very favorite is Saveur itself.

Trite as it sounds (and no, I'm not kissing any literary tush here) Saveur is the one 'food world' thing I can't live without. As sad as I was at the passing of Gourmet (and I still am), if Saveur were to close its doors, I can gurantee there would be tears - and quite possibly gnashing of teeth and tearing of clothing.

Saveur takes me on culinary journeys that I can scarce afford. They sneak me off to obscure hole-in-the-wall spots for delights I'd never otherwise know of. They share the world of food with me in a way that deepens and cultivates my already unfathomable love for it.

This 100 issue, their 12th, is like no other. They have collected, from around the globe, others' food loves and compiled them into one bounteous and delicious magazine. I started reading - on the very first page, from cover to cover as always - and the dog-eared pages piled up. The double-dog eared pages were almost as bad (you know, when there's something on both sides of a page that you want to be sure and re-visit) and soon the whole magazine had a chunk missing from the corner and I knew I was in deep.

Double dog-eared deep.

While much of the food blogging world is pulling a Julie Powell and cooking up entire tomes of recipes in a year or less, I'm satisfied enough to fit as many 100s into my year or so as I can.

While many of the foods are ones I have already eaten or cooked, and while I will most likely never visit the E. Dehillerin Cookware Shop in Paris, or even the Glass Onion in Charleston, South Carolina, and though I may already have known how to properly crack an egg so as to avoid tiny shards of shell (I love you, Jacques Pépin, but my favorite professor taught me that!), I will be trying as many of the 100 foods, gadgets and tips printed within the pages of this Saveur - and I will share them with you - along with all of my other food aventures - one by glorious one.

My Favorite Food Magazine

I read a lot of food and cooking magazines and while I like many of them, I truly love Saveur. Here are just a few of the reasons why:


1. They vindicate me and strip away my guilt;

I can now proudly say that I have been washing mushrooms for years.

I no longer feel like a lazy git for being happy about my Christmas gift of an Electric Carving Knife ('First' article by Dana Bowen).


2. Their photos make me want to dive into the page and eat through to the other side.


3. They scour the planet to come up with the most unusual out-of-the-way wonders ever.


4. The cookbook reviews have caused me to buy several new books; this can be seen as good or bad, depending on my fiscal situation at the time.


5. The recipes. I don't even know where to start. You must go and have a look for yourself. From the familiar to the obscure, and everything in-between.


6. There is no fear in sharing recipes that use lard, publishing an entire issue about pasta, steak or butter, or revealing regional snacks that may not be very good for you, but are too good not to share.


7. The Saveur 100 issues.


They are a magazine after my very heart. There isn't one article I don't read, and each captivates me and takes me somewhere new or calls to me with a familiarity that feels like a well-worn and much-loved blanket. If I'm not learning from the pages within, I'm nodding in agreement and astounded that there are others alive that think about food the way I do. I'll never stop reading.

Pastel de Cuatro Leches

This sweet wonder made it into Saveur's tenth annual 100 issue and one taste will tell you just why. This dense triple-milk (condensed, evaporated, heavy cream) soaked cake is perfection. Saveur offers up a delicious version of dulce de leche sold by Zingerman's (LOVE Zingerman's!), but I made my own at home with a can of sweetened condensed milk.

There are several ways to go about it:

Put two holes in the top of the can and set in an ovenproof pan with water poured in to halfway up the side of the can. Place this in the oven at 250 degrees F for about 4 hours until it's dark and thick.

Cut the whole top off of the can and cover loosely with foil and proceed as above.

Pour into a pie plate, cover with foil and put in a water bath as above.

Pour into a heavy saucepan and put over low heat. Stir very often until the right color and consistency (dark caramel color and spreadable consistency). This still takes 45 minutes to an hour and needs constant attention.

Or buy it. See above.