Pasta - - Page 12

by gansie

Finding Beauty in a Tin Can

So I kinda lied to you. I reported back in July 2008 that I had recreated a tuna fish salad and enjoyed it. Well, that was the lie. I do not like tuna from the can. I cringe at every bite. I pretend that mustard is to tuna fish as sugar is to medicine. But even Mary Poppins knows the truth.

I did however, figure out a new way to prepare this cheap, pantry staple. And when I say “new” I mean new to my apartment. I guess there’s something called a tuna casserole. I’ve never had one. Never. Gross. I mean, velvetta, cream of celery soup and mayo? No.

But I knew somewhere behind the American–style goop there was something to be said for the chunked fish paired with cream and noodles. Well, I found a version that I can say is not tacky and really tasty. It may even be something you could whip up without a grocery store trip. It’s kind of cheating using prepared items, but because I was so enamored with the results, I find it worthy to share. Click to continue.

by gansie

Fettuccine In a Sea of Injera

Over Inauguration weekend, 80P and I crashed a dinner for Liza’s out of town guests. Her friend was in from, um, Nebraska or Iowa or North Dakota, no wait, Montana. And Liza wanted to show off DC’s Ethiopian food. Unfortunately, everyone else in the city thought the same.

We finally found a place that wouldn’t be over an hour wait. But that was only after we spotted an Italian restaurant, La Carbonara, in Little Ethiopia. I scanned the outside menu and pledged to come back: there was fettuccine alfredo to be had.

And so I’ve returned. Actually a few times. I’ve gotten to know Chu Chu, the owner and sometimes chef. I’ve also gotten to slurp down plenty of creamy noodles.

I love Chu Chu’s story: He grew up in Ethiopia, then worked in an Italian restaurant in Italy, then opened up an Ethiopian restaurant in Italy and now lives in the United States and owns an Italian restaurant in Little Ethiopia.

Confused? Read on.

Hidden Pleasure: Italian Restaurant La Carbonara [Express]

Photo: Express

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by BS

Friday Fuck Ups: Not-So-Easy Mac

So I know you all have this idealized foodie image of yours truly that starts with me waking up each day and whipping up a perfect batch of eggs florentine with a side of thick-cut pork belly and a few slices of passion fruit. No? OK, maybe just an idealized version of myself. But believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I cooked way less and drank way more. That time was called college. Well, and a few years after college, to be honest.

Back in those days, my favorite-favorite hungover 11 a.m. breakfast was Easy Mac. Actually I always say Easy Mac but I should clarify that I was never pathetic enough to use the microwave kind; just the stovetop Kraft kind where you pour milk, butter and a scary orange cheese powder over macaroni. It’s disgusting. And amazing. There’s just something about fake cheese flavor that I can’t get enough of.

Moving on, a few Fridays back I awoke around nine to discover I was massively hungover after drinking something pathetic like four beers. WTF! Getting old sucks. I didn’t have much food around, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d had an extra batch of white truffle-hazelnut ravioli, because the only damn thing I wanted was easy mac…

in Cheese 13 comments

by tvff

Just Eggs and Some All-Purpose Flour

Is there a more universal food product than the noodle? Are there any cuisines that don’t have some variation on this simple combination of a starch and a liquid?

I can’t imagine making anything that is as rewarding as fresh pasta. It simultaneously manages to be the easiest of items while also inviting a lifetime’s worth of practice, refinement and perfection.

This all came about on a recent weekend where I had more time on my hands for a meal than I thought. Although the plan was to make a dried pasta dish, the urge to roll out some fresh fettuccine quickly sent me searching for all that I would need: five eggs, three and a half cups of all purpose flour, my pasta roller and a copy of Molto Italiano…

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by tvff

Yo No Soy Marinara

I have a confession to make.

I used jarred tomato sauce a little while back. In my defense, the sauce wasn’t terrible and I was actually aiming for the laziest meal preparation ever, so it fit the bill. (We’ll cover this in depth in a future post.)

Jarred sauce never, ever factors into a pasta preparation in the TVFF household. I think this is genetically impossible, considering my Italian heritage. Plus, there’s just no reason for it.

We make a lot of pasta at home. It’s the main menu item at least once a week, and I like to rotate in a couple of interesting sauce combinations (leeks/sausage/cabbage/fontina, puttanesca, broccoli/anchovy/butter). But with both of us working full time jobs (her in NYC, me in Philadelphia) the urge for a dish that requires very little prep and cooking time…in other words, a sauce that can be done in the time it takes to boil the noodles.

All you need is a lock-solid recipe for a simple marinara sauce and you’re set for life.

in Recipe 6 comments

by tvff

Root Vegetables…and My Cooking Roots

I cooked something the other night that got me thinking. (By the way, coming up with that sentence is the first sign that you need to write for a food blog.)

The meal was tasty. It was parsnip and pancetta tagliatelle with Parmesan and butter, in which I took the liberty of substituting fettuccine for the tagliatelle (I’m a rebel like that). Otherwise, I played the recipe pretty much by the book. I hardly ever work with parsnips, but it’s not really much more than a pale carrot, so all that really needs to be done was avoid using too much of the more fibrous center if you find yourself with a larger parsnip. Judging by the photo on that page, I decided not to cut up the pancetta too much. Rather, I kind of “unwound” it and split the longer piece in half, resulting in something similar to a short strip of bacon.

Everything gets fried in a bunch of butter and pork fat, so that’s good. My one departure from the technique laid out in the recipe was the addition of some pasta water a little earlier in the process, creating more of a sauce for the fettuccine once I moved it from the pot into the frying pan. However, the water caused some of the thinly-sliced parsnip to go a bit mushy, so either add the water later or take this into account when you’re slicing. Despite the slight misstep in texture, the flavor was very good, with the parsnip providing a surprising and tasty sweetness that paired well with the rich sauce and pancetta.
So that was the “cooking” part…

in Bacon / Celebs / Cheese / TV 3 comments

by gansie

When Soft Fits the Bill

Even though I have at least 3 different types of squash in the house, 80P continually boycotts the winter vegetable. He’s also boycotting the grocery store (sheer laziness, not for any locavore type reasoning), which really only leaves me with a few options for dinner. And it’s mostly from my adventures at the Asian supermarket. And squash.

Sweet Potato, Spinach and Tofu Tom Yom Noodle Soup

I definitely threw this together on the fly. I was trying to figure out how to maximize my Asian market ingredients, while also not using up my squash supply. I wasn’t sure how this was going to play out, but as soon as I told 80 that I would add in some noodles, he was pretty sold. Sans meat.

in Recipe / Veggie 6 comments

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