Category: Pasta

A Restaurant Dish

January 27, 2011

I’ve discovered the most amazing thing.  Did you know there is this place called a library?  And they let you borrow books for free?

I’m kidding, of course.  Sort of.  I mean, I know about the library – my kids are big fans.  I hear people talking about how they take cookbooks out of the library and I just, well, I never had until last week.  For reasons too boring to explain, I found myself post-yoga at a small neighborhood library with some time to kill.  I headed straight for the cookbook section and was delighted to find some really interesting books.  One in particular was The Zuni Café Cookbook.  If you like to cook, you probably have that book.  Maybe you are surprised that I don’t.  It is a book I have picked up time and time again and have almost bought on many occasions.  Something always stops me.  This, I figured, was a perfect solution.  I would borrow it for three weeks and if I loved it, I would buy it.

It became clear pretty quickly that I will not be buying this book.  Oh, it is lovely and the food all sounds homey and comforting and amazing.  The recipes are thorough, clearly written, and it is clearly a person – a lover of food – writing them.  It is also incredibly heavy on the meat and there are anchovies in fully half of the more veg dishes.  Plus gallons and gallons of olive oil.  I know that restaurants tend to have a heavy hand with the olive oil.  I have nothing against olive oil and I use it all the time.  But sparingly.  Yes, it’s heart healthy but it is still a fat.

I wanted to make something from the book before returning it and this pasta spoke to me.  I liked that she suggested you use between 4 and 8 pinches of crushed red pepper flakes.  Yes, I love my spice!  But at its heart, this is a restaurant dish.  The kind that looks great and different on the menu, the kind that comes and the first few bites are absolutely delicious, and then you notice the puddle of olive oil under your noodles and you realize that you are not going to feel super well that night.

I tried to lighten this up and did a decent job.  Rather than add tablespoons of olive oil three separate times (she suggests ¾ of a cup all together), I added it only in the beginning and then used water to keep the vegetables from sticking too much.  I tossed the whole thing together with pasta water, lots of it – probably a full cup when all was said and done – which kept things moist.  Maybe I should have been a tad less stingy and added a bit at the end.  Anyway, what I took away from this dish is that the tri-color homemade fettucine at my farmers’ market is delicious, it is worth hauling out the food processor to grind up your bread crumbs so you have crumbs rather than croutons garnishing your dish, and I think I’ll make just the vegetables as a side dish soon.  And back to the library I go!

One Year Ago: Soba Noodles with Vegetables, Crispy Tofu, and Sesame Seeds
Two Years Ago: My tried and true Guacamole

Pasta with Spicy Broccoli and Cauliflower
Adapted from The Zuni Café Cookbook
Serves 6

I’m writing out the recipe with the changes I made.  Even though I did not make them this way, I am including Rogers’ instructions for making the bread crumbs.

About 1 cup fresh, soft bread crumbs (optional)
Olive oil
12 ounces broccoli, trimmed with a few inches of stem intact
12 ounces cauliflower, stem end trimmed flush
Salt
1 generous tablespoon capers, rinsed, dried and roughly chopped
1 pound penne or fettucine
6 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. fennel seeds
4 to 8 pinches dried chili flakes
¼ cup Kalamata olives, seeded and roughly chopped

If using bread crumbs, preheat the oven to 425ºF.

Toss the bread crumbs with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes, until golden.  Set aside.

Slice the broccoli and cauliflower about 1/8 inch thick, and generally lengthwise.  Most of the slices will break apart as you cut them, yielding a pile of smooth stem pieces, tiny green  broccoli buds, loose cauliflower crumbs, and a few deliciate slabs with stem and flower both.  Don’t worry if the slices are of uneven thickness.

Set a large skillet over medium heat.  Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom and add most of the sliced broccoli and cauliflower, leaving behind the smallest bits on the cutting board (they will burn if you add them too soon).  Cook the vegetables until you see the edges starting to brown, about 3 minutes.  Salt very lightly, add the left behind bits to the pan, and toss and fold gently.  If things are sticking too much to the pan, add a bit of water.  Add the capers and mix gently.  Continue cooking over medium heat for another few minutes, allowing the vegetable to brown gently, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, drop the pasta into 6 quarts of rapidly boiling salted water.  Stir, and cook until al dente.

Once the mass of broccoli and cauliflower has shrunken by about one-third and is largely tender, reduce the heat and add the garlic, fennel, and chili.  Give the vegetables a toss to distribute.  Cook for another few minutes, then add the olives.  Carefully add the pasta to the skillet, using tongs for fettucine or a slotted spoon for penne.  Add the pasta water by ladleful as needed to keep the pasta loose.  Garnish with the toasted bread crumbs if desired.



Healthier Macaroni and Cheese

December 5, 2010

Sometimes you need to cook for a crowd.  Sometimes that crowd is very mixed – young and old, male and female, picky and not picky.  You catch my drift.  I find it best in those situations to turn to good old macaroni and cheese.

Graham turned six (!) on November 28th (more thoughts on that milestone when I can actually write the post without crying).  We decided to have a party for him the day after Thanksgiving.  I found a very cool activity for the kids to do which happened to be right near our house.  As I was planning this little party, I felt very strongly that I wanted to have everyone (parents included) back to our house for dinner afterward.  And I felt even more strongly that I did not want to serve everyone the pizza fall-back that seems to be inescapable at a kids’ birthday party.

There is nothing wrong with pizza.  In fact, I love pizza and it is a terrific thing to serve to a mixed crowd, but I just got it in my head that I wanted to cook for these friends and family members.  Yes, we had just hosted 16 adults and 4 kids for Thanksgiving.  What can I say?  I got help with the turkey feast and also I am insane.

There was never really any doubt about what I wanted to make for the party but I wanted to change it up.  Since we all had just feasted on turkeys and stuffing and potatoes, I decided to lighten up the mac and cheese quite a bit.  A few years ago, I found a recipe for it using cauliflower in place of some of the milk and cheese.  I thought it turned out really well and I decided to re-visit that idea for Graham’s party.  I love mac and cheese as much as the next person but I always feel like it needs something else.  One note food tends to bore me after a few bites, no matter how delicious those bites are.  I decided to add some mustard for tang and heat, and some smoked paprika for some, well, smokiness.

Now, this is not spa food.  There is butter and there is milk (2% though!), and there is still a pound and a half of cheese here.  BUT.  There is also 2 pounds of pasta.  I made it to serve a large number of people.  Like 24 adults and 10 kids.  Not everyone ate it of course, but most did and I still had a bit left over.  Considering your standard mac and cheese has about a pound of cheese for 12 ounces of pasta, this is substantially lighter.  The cauliflower is virtually undetectable here.  I’m not a big fan of hiding vegetables in my kids’ food.  I want them to recognize vegetables for what they are and choose to eat them, not trick them into it.  But seeing as there is no way in hell that either of them would eat cauliflower willingly, I am glad that they got a little dose with their noodles.

I realize that you may not have many occasions to make such a large portion.  Nor may you have a pan to fit it all in.  I had a couple of large aluminum dishes that I bought for a long-ago catering job and that is what I used.  You can certainly fit all of this into two large baking dishes (like 13×9 or 15×10).  I’m also sure you can cut the recipe in half and just make a more normal sized (though still very generous) portion.  I did not test the recipe that way so I am giving it to you the way I made it.

Mac and Cheese Previously on Dana Treat: Gratinéed Macaroni and Cheese with Tomatoes, Three Cheese Mini-Macs
One Year Ago: Spicy Tomato Jam
Two Years Ago: Seitan Bourguingonne

Healthier Macaroni and Cheese
Dana Treat Original
Serves 20-25

In spite of the name of this dish, I almost never use macaroni when making mac and cheese.  It’s too small and boring for me.  Other short tubular shapes are more interesting.

1 large cauliflower (about 3 pounds), broken into florets
2 lbs. short tubular pasta (I used gemelli)
Olive oil
1 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
½ tsp. smoked paprika
3 cups 2% milk, divided
2 tsp. kosher salt
4 tbsp. (½ stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup flour
½ cup half-and-half
1 lb. extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
½ lb. Gruyère, grated
Panko or breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 375ºF with the rack in the middle.

Bring a large pot (at least 8 quart) of salted water to boil.  Add the cauliflower florets and cook until fork tender.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cauliflower to a food processor.  Add more water to the pot and then add the pasta.  Cook until al dente, according to package instructions, then drain.  Toss the pasta with a bit of olive oil to keep it from sticking and set aside.

Meanwhile, add the mustard, smoked paprika, and 2 teaspoons of salt, to the food processor.  Pulse until chunky.  Pour in 2 cups of the milk through the feed tube and process until you have a smooth and loose purée, adding a bit more milk if it seems too thick.  You want it like extremely thick cream.

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or similar type pot.  Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour darkens slightly in color and smells nutty, about 3 minutes.  Pour in the cauliflower purée and stir well.  Slowly pour in the remaining cup of milk and the half-and-half.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until rich and thick.  Turn off the heat, add both cheeses, and stir until everything is nice and melted.

Place the cooked pasta in a very large bowl.  Pour the sauce over top and carefully mix until the noodles are completely coated with sauce.  Butter one extra large or two large baking dishes and then pour the coated noodles in.  Sprinkle with either panko or bread crumbs and cover with foil.  Bake for 30 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 10.  The center of the pan should feel hot.



The Last Good Thing I Ate

November 22, 2010

Whatever else my life may bring in the future, 2010 is going to go down as a banner year for travel.  I went skiing in Sun Valley in February, got a tattoo in Provincetown in May, went copper pot shopping in Paris in June, had a quick weekend getaway in New York City in October (story coming soon), and just spent a week drinking fruity rum cocktails in the Bahamas.

Yes, a few of you actually guessed right.  Which amazes me because I gave very little information.  I could have also told you that I was on an island where people drive on the left side of the road.  I could also have told you that I was just off the coast of Florida but that would have made it too easy.  But yes, ladies and gentlemen – I was in the Bahamas.

It’s better than that actually.  I was at (in?) Atlantis.  As an almost lifelong West Coaster, the Bahamas were never really on my radar.  I was actually not even sure where they were and mistakenly thought they were much farther away than they are.  Which is why, when Randy told me he had won a work incentive trip and we were going for four days, I insisted suggested that we extend.  Atlantis, if you have never had the good fortune to go, is a huge resort.  The kind of place that can house thousands of people at one time, where there are something like 11 pools and over 20 restaurants.  There are palm trees and cocktails everywhere and a spa where you can get a massage to work out the kinks from laying on a beach chair all day.

Atlantis has restaurants from some celebrity chefs.  There is a Nobu, a Mesa Grill, two Jean-Georges restaurants, and a pair of well-regarded steak houses.  There is also a deli, a pizza place, tons of casual pool-side dining and a couple of Italian restaurants.  This will probably not surprise you, but I did not eat well on this trip.  I must admit that my expectations were a little higher than usual.  With chefs of this caliber, there would be some decent veg food, right?  Alas, I ate veggie burgers, poorly dressed salads, and baked potatoes basically the whole time.  My worst meal was at Mesa Grill which is really a shame since the restaurant is beautiful and Randy liked his $55 steak – the one that did not come with any side dishes.

Now, don’t cue the small violins.  I am a lucky lucky woman.  I got a week in the sun with my husband.  A week to read four books and to see the sun which was absent much of this year in Seattle.  A week to meet lots of people Randy has worked with for years, and to spend a morning sailing on a catamaran.  It is just a bummer that the food was so disappointing and so incredibly expensive.  To have been in France and New York this year and to be shocked by the prices tells you how ridiculously high they were.

I dreamed of my cooking.  This pasta is the last thing I made before we left.  I had planned to post about it before taking off but my to-do list got to be too long.  This dish is something that came to me as I was thinking about leeks.  I was planning to make a leek tart for a friend (and in making it, decided to also make it for Thanksgiving this year) and remembered a creamy leek pasta I made long ago.  Rather than track down the recipe, I decided to do it my own way which means adding slightly caramelized chunks of squash and a good dose of red pepper flakes.  And fresh herbs, always fresh herbs.

I made this nice and creamy by using a bit of goat cheese and a lot of pasta cooking water.  I have given the tip about scooping noodles directly out of their water and into the pan with the “sauce” a couple of times, but it is essential to making this dish work right, and lessening your clean-up along the way.

One Year Ago: Holly B’s Gingersnaps, Gianduja Mousse, Maple Roasted Delicata Squash
Two Years Ago: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Cranberry-Walnut Braid (which is cooling on my counter right now)

Orecchiette with Creamy Leeks and Winter Squash
Dana Treat Original
Serves 4-6

I used delicata squash because I love it and I love not having to peel it.  Butternut would be a fine substitute, just be sure to peel it.  Orecchiette is my pasta shape choice here because it holds the sauce perfectly, but I sometimes have trouble finding it.  Another small shape would be fine.  I would not use long strands.

1 pound delicata squash, cut in half, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch chunks
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 large leeks, white and pale green part only, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
¼ cup white wine
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 pound orecchiette pasta, or similar shape
2 ounces soft goat cheese, such as Montrachet
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus additional for garnish
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.  Place the squash on a small rimmed baking sheet and drizzle lightly with olive oil.  Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Using your hands, mix well.  Place in the oven and roast until lightly browned and caramelized, turning once, about 15 to 17 minutes.  Remove and set aside.

Place a large skillet over medium heat.  Drizzle in just enough olive oil to coat the bottom.  Add the leeks and a pinch of salt and turn the heat to medium-low.  Sauté for several minutes, stirring often, until the leeks soften but do not allow them to brown.  Stir in the sage and thyme.  Cook for another couple of minutes, until fragrant.  Pour in the wine and allow to cook, uncovered, until the wine evaporates.  Turn the heat down to low.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente, using the package directions as your guide and tasting to make sure.  Place the pasta pot and the sauté pan on burners right next to one another.

Once the orecchiette is done, use a slotted spoon to scoop the noodles directly from the pot into the sauce pan.  Immediately add the goat cheese, the roasted squash, and the red pepper flakes.  Scoop a ladle-ful of pasta cooking water from the pot into the saucepan, and give everything a good stir.  Add the Parmesan cheese and another ladle-ful of water.  Taste for seasoning.  You may need more water, so just keep adding it until the dish is the consistency that you want.  Garmish servings with additional Parmesan and parsley.



Dinner for Karen

November 8, 2010

It is early November in Seattle and that means several things.  The loss of daylight savings and therefore the return of the darkness settling in around 4:30pm (and it only gets worse), it means the wind picking up and the rain becoming more steady.  It means piles of wet leaves everywhere that no child would ever want to jump into.  It means starting to prepare myself for a large bird that will take up residence in my oven for the better part of a day.  It means birthday month for my son, my mother, my niece, my best friend, my best friend’s son, two of my kids’ closest friends, and others in my life.  And it means Karen is in town.

Karen and I were both theatre majors  in college.  Being two years ahead of me, I didn’t get to take that  many classes with her and we were never in a production together, but we were very close friends.  Her father was a professor at the college and I got to be very close with her family as well as they invited me over for Passover Seders, and allowed me to store my boxes of stuff at their house each summer.  (As a thank you, I would bring them an incredible luxury each fall.  Starbucks coffee!  It was a delicacy then.  Now, of course, there is a Starbucks in the small Connecticut town.)

Some people say that a theatre major is totally useless.  I would disagree.  Learning how to speak in front of people and the art of self-awareness; learning how to work together with other actors, how to take direction, and how to make friends with another species (the technical crew); learning how to juggle a school schedule while rehearsing until after midnight every night – all those things have actually really helped me in my life.  But I never “did” anything with my major.

Karen is another story.  As she got nearer to graduation, she realized that her real interest lay in casting.  She left college and took a $75/week internship with a casting director in New York.  She worked hard and got offered a real job.  Then she made a move to Los Angeles.  Then she got a very cool job at CBS.  Then she got an even cooler job at CBS which is being the casting director for comedies.  She has had that job for the past ten years or so.

There is a comedy festival in Seattle every year around this time and she has made it up almost every year.  It is such a treat to have her in town and such an interesting marker of our years as friends.  I remember sitting in her hotel room and telling her how my first marriage was falling apart.  We spent election night of 2000 running up to the bar from the comedy club checking on the results and crossing our fingers that it all would turn out all right (which for both of us, it didn’t).  There were years that I was pregnant and years that she was.  There were years I was nursing and years she was pumping.  She first met both of my boys on these November trips.  I have been so grateful that I get to see her at least once a year.

This time, she came in a little earlier than usual and we got last night together.  A night out in a restaurant sounded tempting but what I really wanted was to cook for her and to allow her to relax in our home with our boys.  As I mentioned in my last post, I have been in a bit of rut lately but when I was paging through my latest issue of Food & Wine, this recipe jumped out at me.  When something sticks in my addled brain, as this dish did, I know I need to make it.

What you see here is a mixture of fregola (which is very similar to Israeli couscous) and grated cauliflower all mixed together with a bit of broth, a healthy dose of red pepper flakes, and fresh mint.  It is sitting on a bed of surprisingly fantastic cauliflower purée and topped with oven roasted tomatoes.  I usually find the recipes in Food & Wine to be spot on but there was something missing here.  It was still a delightful dish and I would gladly fill a bowl with that purée and go to town with a spoon.  But the fregola needed something else.  A sprinkling of cumin during the simmer perhaps or an addition of caramelized onions that have been very finely chopped.  Or olives.  Or all three.  Just a bit more flavor to make it really main course material.

One Year Ago: Apple Pie Bars
Two Years Ago: Cowgirl Cookies

Fregola with Minted Cauliflower
Adapted from Food & Wine
Serves 4

In addition to needing more flavor, I thought this dish needed more purée.  The original recipe instructs you to only use half a cauliflower and to grate one of those halves and purée the other.  I think you should purée the ¾ of the cauliflower that you aren’t grating and if you have any left over, you can use it as a side with another dish.

1 head cauliflower
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. heavy cream
½ cup plus 2 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
Kosher salt
½ pint grape tomatoes
Olive oil
1½ cups fregola
¾ cup vegetable broth
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup mint leaves, torn

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Cut the cauliflower in half and cut one of the halves in half again.  Grate one of the quarters on the large holes of a box grater, stopping when you reach the stems; you should have about 1 cup of grated cauliflower that resembles coarsely grated Parmesan.  Finely chop the stems and add to the grated.  Set aside.

Roughly chop the rest of the cauliflower.  Put in in a saucepan along with the cream, water and 2 tablespoons of the butter.  Season with salt.  Cover and cook over moderate heat until the cauliflower is tender and the liquid nearly evaporated, 8 minutes.  If the liquid is gone before the cauliflower is tender, add a bit more water.  Scrape the mixture into a food processor and purée until very smooth.  Wipe out the saucepan and return the purée to it; keep warm.

In a small baking dish or on a small baking sheet, drizzle the tomatoes lightly with olive oil.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and mix well.  Roast for about 10 minutes, just until the skins start to burst.

Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil.  Add the fregola and cook until al dente.  Drain the fregola and return it to the pot.  Add the vegetable broth, crushed red pepper, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook over low heat, stirring until the sauce is creamy, adding more liquid if necessary.  Stir in the grated cauliflower and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mint.

Spoon the cauliflower purée onto plates.  Top with the fregola and roasted tomatoes and serve immediately.



For Your Next Potluck

July 13, 2010

One of the things that can be challenging in vegetarian cooking is creating a colorful and interesting dinner plate.  I don’t mean the meal as a whole, I mean what you actually find as your main course.  If you eat meat, your plate is probably something like protein, starch, green vegetable.  In England they call that meat and two veg.  There used to be a vegetarian restaurant in London called Eat and Two Veg which I thought was hilarious.  Anyway.  On our plates, that diversity is harder to accomplish.  You can’t just swap out the steak for tofu.

When I am making a special dinner, I try really hard to come up with a three part main course.  I always have at least one course preceding the main, but I like that main to look really colorful and appetizing.  I found a recipe for this wonderful couscous dish and knew I wanted to make it for my brother’s special dinner.  If I make a starchy side, I try to make a protein-heavy dish along with a clean vegetable.  Galettes are great for dinner parties but in this case, I thought the crust and the couscous would be starch overload.  This time, I made a crustless quiche with kale and zucchini and that amazing blasted broccoli.

This dish was so lovely.  Two kinds of couscous mixed with slow roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, and fresh herbs makes for a substantial and delicious side.  The recipe instructs you to top it with dollops of homemade labneh – a type of strained yogurt cheese, but I opted out of that easy but time-consuming step.  I could have probably bought some labneh, but I opted out of that time-consuming third stop on my grocery shopping tour and just bought fromage blanc.  Really, after tasting the dish, I would probably use something more pungent next time – like a Montrachet or even feta cheese.

If you make this as written, you will end up with approximately one ton of couscous, so it would be a great addition to your next party or potluck.  Never a bad thing.

Ottolenghi calls the larger couscous mograbiah which apparently is the Lebanese name for what we call Israeli couscous.  It is about half the size of a pea.  Sometimes it is difficult to find so when I see it, I buy it.  I have used a small Italian pasta as a substitute (not acine de pepe or orzo) the name of which, for the life of me, I cannot find.  I liked it in this dish because the color is not so uniform so it had a more rustic look and texture.  Anyone know the name of what I describe?  (Update 7-16-10: Thank you to Mary for reminding me of the name – fregola!  If you can find that type, use it here.)

One Year Ago:  Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars
Two Years Ago:  Leek Frittata

Couscous and Mograbiah with Oven-Dried Tomatoes
Adapted from Ottolenghi, The Cookbook
Makes a lot

I know this seems like a crazy amount of tomatoes, but just make them and use them in other things if you don’t want to add them all to the couscous.  They are delicious.

16 large, ripe plum tomatoes, cut into halves lengthwise
2 tbsp. muscovado sugar (DT: or sub brown sugar)
Olive oil
2 tbsp. good balsamic vinegar
2 onions, thinly sliced
8 oz. Morgrabiah or Israeli couscous
1 2/3 cups vegetable stock
Pinch of saffron threads
8 oz. couscous
2 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon (DT: basil would be good here too)
4 ounces fromage blanc, Montrachet, or feta cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300ºF.  Arrange the tomatoes halves on a baking sheet, skin side down, and sprinkle them with the sugar, some olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Place in the oven and bake for 2 hours, or until the tomatoes have lost most of their moisture.

Meanwhile, place a large skillet over medium-high heat and drizzle in just enough olive oil to coat the bottom.  Add the onions and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a dark golden color – 15 to 20 minutes.  Set aside.

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil.  Add the mograbiah and cook it as you would pasta until tender but not overcooked, about 10 minutes. http://www.bingo-game.org/   Drain and rinse well with cold water.  Drain again.

In a separate pot, bring the stock to boil with the saffron and a little salt.  Add the (small) couscous, give it a stir, then immediately turn cover the pot and turn off the heat.  Let stand for 5 minutes, then use a fork to fluff up the couscous.

In a large bowl, stir together the mograbiah, couscous, tomatoes, tarragon, and onions.  You will most likely need to add olive oil to keep things from sticking together and a couple good pinches of salt.  Turn the whole dish out onto a platter.  Scoop some of the fromage blanc over top or crumble one of the suggested cheeses.



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