Tag Archives: Pasta

March 24, 2010 · 8:23 pm

Use Whatcha Got

As a single gal, I find cooking for just one is occasionally a challenge. I can usually adjust a recipe to make one serving (or two, leaving me with leftovers or leaving me having to unbutton my suddenly-tight pants) but then I have random ingredients in my fridge that I either must use before they spoil, or throw out. I usually end up eating the same dinner three days in a row, or a variation on the meal (risotto with mushrooms and asparagus, pasta with mushrooms and asparagus, and omelet with mushrooms and… you get it).

So tonight I found myself with heavy cream, capers, and chicken stock. The thought of eating that trout again was appealing to my tongue but not so much my waistline. The answer? Chicken Piccata.

Okay, so it’s not “healthy.” But it tasted damn good.

Any food stylist will tell you that my pasta is all wrong, there’s too much sauce in the picture, the plate’s not clean, the capers are haphazard… but don’t you just want to dig right in?? That equals success in my book.

On the menu: Chicken piccata
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts, pounded to around 1/2 thick (mine is thicker, but it’ll cook faster and be crispier if you pound it thinner)
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp lemon juice (or the juice from 1/2 of a lemon)
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup heavy cream (half and half would work, too OR you can leave this out altogether if you choose)
1/2 cup chicken stock
4 Tbsp capers
salt and pepper to taste

[Put water on to boil for pasta] Melt butter with olive oil in skillet. Season chicken breasts liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Dredge breasts in flour, shaking off excess. Once butter is completely melted, add chicken to the skillet. Cook chicken on medium/high heat for around 6-7 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. Add the white wine to the same skillet and reduce heat to medium (this is to de-glaze the pan). Scrape all the beautiful brown bits from the bottom of the pan and let the wine reduce down a bit. Once the liquid has reduced by 1/4, add chicken stock, lemon juice, and heavy cream, stirring until all liquids are combined. [If you start cooking your angel hair now in the boiling water, it should time out to be finished once the sauce is ready] Let the sauce reduce for another 5 minutes and then add the capers. Now it’s time to taste! If your sauce needs more salt (mine needed a healthy pinch) now is the time to add it. Mix well. Plate your chicken and pasta, and then pour the sauce over the whole plate.

As you can see… I like sauce. To me, life without sauce is like the beach without sand. The ocean without fish. A boat with no sail!

Can you tell I need a vacation?

Saucy chicken will have to be my escape for now.

*I also want to note that if you ever try this or any recipe I share and you have a question or a concern or an outrage (I mean… I hope not but I’m not perfect. Close. But not quite.) please let me know! Leave a comment or send me an e-mail. I’d love to know how it all turned out in your own kitchens.

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March 9, 2010 · 5:53 pm

A Hug for Your Belly

If you haven’t already guessed, comfort food is a theme in this blog. And in the past few months, it’s all I’ve been craving. I can scroll through pages and pages of recipes for beet salads with arugula, light and refreshing white fish with citrus garnish, and quiches loaded with vegetables. But when all is said and done, I find myself in my kitchen making rice and pasta. Gemelli with mascarpone, risotto with parmesan, penne with tomatoes and vodka, spaghetti with butter. I’m thinking of opening Lauren E.’s Pasta and More Restaurant (heavy on the ‘pasta,’ light on the ‘and more’).

Talk to me in April and maybe I’ll be posting endless recipes for gazpacho and chicken salad, but for today, it’s linguine with bacon. Don’t worry, friends, it’s not bathing suit season yet.

On the menu: Linguine Carbonara

½ pound linguine
5 strips bacon
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 shallot, roughly chopped
2 eggs
½ cup heavy cream (or half and half)
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 teaspoons freshly grated black pepper

Boil pasta until al dente, around 9-10 minutes (reserve ½ cup pasta water). Meanwhile, fry bacon in non-stick skillet until crisp. Let rest on a paper towel and trim any exceptionally fatty bits. Roughly chop bacon. Discard bacon grease. Add olive oil to the same skillet and over medium heat, cook garlic and onion until lightly browned. Add drained, al dente pasta to the skillet and cook for one minute, tossing a few times so it doesn’t stick. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, and grated parmesan. Over low heat, slowly pour egg mixture over pasta in skillet, constantly tossing with tongs so the eggs don’t scramble (if you only have a spatula, that works, too but be very careful to constantly scrape the bottom of the pan so you don’t have a layer of cooked egg under your noodles). Toss over low heat until the sauce thickens and sticks to the noodles. Add the bacon and black pepper, toss until everything is heated through.

Yum, cheesy pasta. Yum.

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February 17, 2010 · 10:54 am

Mangia!

I had a few requests for the recipe for the vodka sauce. The problem? I have no recipe for the vodka sauce. And including phrases like, “Simmer until you can’t taste vodka” or “saute until you think it’s done” just seemed wrong. I conferred with my co-chef (BTB Celeste) and this is what we came up with.

Luxirare-Inspired Penne alla Vodka*

Yields servings for 12

2 large cans of San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
12 oz. of half and half
1 small can of tomato paste (approx. 4 oz.)
Half of a large Spanish onion
enough olive oil to coat the pan and cover onions
2/3 of a head of garlic
red pepper flakes to taste
2/3 cup braseola, cut in lardons (cut about a half inch thick; can substitute prosciutto)
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (plus 1/4 cup to sprinkle before serving)
1/2 cup of vodka
1/4 cup basil, chopped (plus 1/8 cup chiffonade for garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil over medium heat in large pot. Add onions and saute until soft. Add Braseole and garlic, cook for 10 minutes (be careful not to let the garlic burn). Turn up heat and add tomatoes, salt, red pepper flakes, chopped basil, and tomato paste until the mixture simmers. Return to medium heat and add cheese, half and half, and vodka. Turn heat way down and let simmer until the alcohol has cooked off, about 35 minutes. Salt to taste.

*Dear friends, please keep in mind that this is my rough estimate of the recipe. If the sauce is way too tomato-ey for your taste, add more cream. If it’s way too thick, add a little more liquid. If you’re drunk after one sip, maybe let it cook down longer than I suggested. This is kind of what I love about cooking. Yours won’t be anything like mine. But it’ll be delicious anyway.

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February 10, 2010 · 9:32 pm

Cold Weather Comfort

Today was Snowapalooza or Snowmageddon or Snowtastrophe or whatever. I was sent home from work at 11AM and immediately hurried home and into the coziest sweater I have. Dinner was whatever I had in the pantry and you can’t go wrong with cheesy pasta on a cold day.

On the menu:
Snowmageddon Penne
Serves 2 (or if you’re a large man, haven’t eaten all day, or… me… it serves 1)

You’ll Need:
3 Tbsp. butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sweet onions, chopped (I love onions, but you can use less if you so choose)
2/3 cup half and half
1/4 cup parmesan, finely grated (don’t even think of reaching for the Kraft)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups penne pasta

Cook penne according to the directions on the package. In the meantime, melt the butter over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and saute until the onions are slightly carmelized but watch the garlic closely so it doesn’t burn. As soon as the onions are carmelized, add the half and half, parmesan, and basil. Reduce heat to low and let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes. When the sauce has thickened enough to coat a wooden spoon, add salt and pepper to taste.

Ingest. Enjoy.

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February 9, 2010 · 10:00 pm

Sauce is better with booze/Sweets are better with salt

I realize this is post #3 and once again it’s alcohol-centric. Whatevs.

Last week I went to Celeste’s swank new apartment to catch up over carbs and wine, cause that’s how we do. Somehow our meetings always revolve around creamy pasta. And that’s alright with me.

On the menu:
Penne alla vodka
Fleur de sel brownies

We searched all the usual sites for recipes but ultimately came back to one of our favorite places ever, Luxirare. No one knows who Luxirare is. As far as we know, it’s a she. And she makes unbelievable creations. Just take a peek and you’ll be hooked. And her penne alla vodka looked incredible so while she doesn’t provide a recipe, we used the ingredients and our intuition as our guide.

Key ingredient in penne alla vodka: penne. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. I’m Italian. I know.

Another key ingredient: vodka. No lie.

That’s Celeste. Celeste works for Behind the Burner, and even though she claims to not really enjoy cooking, she looks mighty happy right here. We ate more sauce from the pot than we did over pasta. Ain’t no shame.

Parmesan cheese, braseole (an air dried Italian meat, less salty than a pancetta but totally holds its own in this dish), fresh basil, half and half, vodka, garlic, San Marzano tomatoes, and a sprinkling of chopped onions. How can something so simple be so unrelentingly delicious? Who cares.

Sometimes the oven stops working and you have to bake brownies in the toaster oven. And then sometimes they come out like batter in the middle and crispy on the outside and you eat them anyway because you are a little drunk and they are goooo-ood.

We made these particular brownies with a basic brownie recipe and upped the amount of salt to a teaspoon and a half of fleur de sel, also sprinkling some on top. The combination of sweet but bitter dark chocolate and the salt is perfect.

Warning: this meal is not low calorie. In fact, you may have just gained a couple pounds reading this post. I’m not really that sorry about it.

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