Cacio e Pepe

Still heart-ing the bon appetit pasta article... this time, the cacio e pepe, or cheese and pepper pasta. The recipe was even simpler than the pasta al pomodoro-- literally, it's pasta, cheese, salt, pepper and butter. As a result I have nothing to add, other than it's 7:45 a.m. and I would eat a plate of this right now if it were in front of me.

Pasta al Pomodoro

O.m.g.

Who else got the fabulous May 2011 bon appetit Italy Issue? This is the pasta on the cover, from an amazing article called "Pasta Perfect: a BA cooking manifesto." bon appetit, this is what you should be doing every issue: putting together an article based on skills the home cook can use to elevate the featured dish to restaurant quality. One of my favorite quotes: "It's a unified, flavor-packed dish, not a bowl of noodles with a bunch of sauce dumped on top." So true! Why have I never noticed that I dump at home, but restaurants blend sauce and pasta together?

And the gushing continues: never again will I underestimate a simple pasta with pomodoro sauce. The sauce, made with only olive oil, onion, garlic, tomatoes, crushed red pepper, basil and parmesan, was simple and classic, yet also tangy, spicy, creamy and fresh. The sauce took a bit of time to put together, but for me, from now on, this is it. No cheating, no substitutes.

Next up from this article? The cacio e pepe. Can't wait!

Stuffed Shells

H: What's for dinner tonight?

Me: Stuffed shells. I'm going to freeze a pan to take over to [friends] in a couple days, since they just had their baby.

H: Didn't you make that right after my sister got out of the hospital?

Me: Yes.

H: Are you concerned about the link between this dish and people going to the hospital?

Me: Re-think the sequencing on that one.

So, yes, I have a need these days to make casseroles for people who, fortunately, are mainly going to the hospital to have babies or otherwise turned out okay. This Martha recipe is nice (albeit a little selfish), because you can make a pan and freeze a plan, giving you one meal as a reward for your hard work (it takes about an hour to prepare, not counting baking time). I take it over in a reusable foil pan, with instructions written on top with a Sharpie, and a bag of salad mix. Although Martha's original version with radicchio is strangely beautiful in red and purple, it seems less creepy to take it over to someone else when I use green swiss chard.

Here is where we interpret, since Martha's recipes are sometimes lofty and/or not explicit: Bacon works great instead of prosciutto. I like a lot of butter, so I use half a stick or so. The red wine vinegar adds the perfect amount of tang, so don't leave it out. 5 cups of tomato sauce is 2 24-oz. jars of Tomato & Basil Classico from Costco, and the recipe works just fine if you dot with butter and cover with sauce prior to baking or freezing.

Mazel tov; get well soon.

Linguine with Turkey Meatballs and Quick Sauce

I've sat down twice to blog about the linguine with turkey meatballs and quick sauce recipe from Everyday Pasta, which I cannot find online in an official form (it's on page 177-- buy it!). The trick to the recipe is that Giada throws all kinds of flavorful bits in with the turkey in the meatballs to pump up the bland flavor, including pancetta, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese, which makes it perfect for someone who is turkey ambivalent like me. Since we're counting calories these days, I cut out the first installment of EVOO down to 2 tablespoons, and then reused the leftover oil for the quick sauce without adding more. I also cut the cheese in half-- this I might recommend even if you're not counting calories, because the cheese has the tendency to burn and stick to the pan in the oven. Finally, I cut down on the amount of linguine and used whole wheat; unless you're making your own linguine, the sauce is the yummy part and doesn't need an excessive amount of pasta.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese is my favorite thing about fall. There is literally nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon than to sit on the couch, watch football and smell this sauce cook. It's drizzling out today, so I almost feel like we're there.

The only tricks to this recipe are time and a big pot. It takes a while to prep all of the ingredients, and then a few hours for the flavors to come together. After we eat, I'll also typically put together a lasagna with some of the leftover sauce and put it in the freezer. So for the two of us, this recipe will last for 4-5 meals.

Three-Cheese Mushroom and Spinach Calzone

I used to be a vegetarian for six years. I was a terrible vegetarian; I ate a lot of cheese, french fries and chocolate. These calzones would have fit the bill. Now, I say calzones because I made four individual calzones as opposed to one large calzones and cooked the calzones for a few minutes less. Since there are just two of us, we eat a lot of leftovers and making four individual calzones enabled us to easily package the extras in a brown bag lunch. I used the frozen pizza dough from Central Market-- it's next to the pizzas in the freezer section and is softly garlic-flavored. Next time, I may substitute mozzarella for fontina; I doubt I could taste the difference and it'll be cheaper.

4/10/11 update: tonight, substituted 1/2 lb. of hot italian sausage for the spinach and omitted the fennel seeds and red pepper flakes-- worked well. Also, learned that fontina is easier to grate if you freeze first-- 15-20 minutes.

Chicken Cacciatore

I think I've mentioned previously my love for Giada's recipes and how well they turn out. Everyday Italian is the cookbook that started it all for me. Every dish in it tastes exactly like you expect it would-- classic, Italian-American cuisine. Chicken Cacciatore, though, was never a meal I ordered at a restaurant and wow, was I missing out! The sauce, which is really more like a stew broth, picks up tang from the veggies and depth from the chicken. I've made this dish as called for, with both thighs and breasts, and with only one or the other. If you go the latter route, don't change the portion size; just cut down on the protein overall and pick up some crusty bread to soak up the broth. And of course, this dish is great with fresh grated parmesan on top.

Marinara Sauce

Making mirepoix is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. The peeling, the chopping, the crying over onions-- if you crush a couple garlic cloves as well, it's better than therapy! I always end up with with extra celery, carrots and onions, and a great way to use up the extras is in a simple spaghetti sauce, like Giada de Laurentiis' marinara sauce, that you can make and keep in the freezer to use in other recipes later on. If you were bottling this sauce as a type of Prego, it would be "Chunky Garden Fresh." Sometimes I like to throw in some red wine to tone down the tanginess but really this recipe is all about complementing Eggplant Parm, Manicotti or Penne alla Vodka (and using up your mirepoix!)