From Beard on Pasta by James Beard
I'm posting this recipe today mostly for myself. As I've said before, the reason I started this blog was so I can get my hands on my recipes, and this is one that's not in my head, and I have actually wished I had it on occasion, so it's time to put it here.
It is basically from Beard on Pasta by James Beard, but the first time I made it was with Beverly Dana when she invited me to her house in Atlanta to make pasta. I make it in a Cuisinart (which to me is synonymous with food processor) and roll it out on rollers that I attach to my KitchenAid mixer, which makes it really easy.
Michael Ruhlman did a post on making pasta by hand without using a food processor. You might want to check it out.
Fresh pasta is very different from dry pasta, and it isn't automatically better for every recipe. A rule of thumb is that dried pasta works well with heavy sauces, and fresh works well with light sauces. It's like the wand choosing the wizard rather than the wizard choosing the wand. The sauce dictates the pasta. Having said that, I must confess that with the exception of filled (like ravioli and tortellini) pasta and lasagna, I generally am happy with excellent quality Italian dried pasta. I find it really does make a difference to use artisanal pasta from Italy, which has been made using bronze cutting die, and usually use Pasta Setaro or Rustichella D'Abruzzo pasta. I recently tried Cav. Guiseppe Cocco penne rigate, for Pasta alla Carbonara, and it was delicious (the pasta and the recipe).
These instructions are specifically for using a food processor. James Beard has instructions for making it by hand and making it using an electric mixer, so if you want to, check out the book to see all the different methods.
Fresh Pasta
Adapted from Beard on Pasta by James Beard
These instructions are specifically for using a food processor.
1-1/2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
Pinch of salt
2 whole large eggs at room temperature
1 tablespoon oil
Add the flour and salt to the bowl of your food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process to blend, then add the eggs and oil through the feed tube. Continue to process until the dough begins to form a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon or two of flour. If it's too dry, add a tiny, tiny amount of water. Process until it forms a ball, but don't keep processing once that happens.
Turn the dough from the food processor out onto a floured board. Dust your hands with flour, and knead by hand for about 5 minutes. Make a ball and then slightly flatten it. Wrap it in plastic wrap or place it in a Ziplock bag, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes - an hour is infinitely better (and you can actually refrigerate it overnight; just let it get to room temperature again before continuing with the recipe to the rolling step).
Cut the dough into four equal pieces. I then roll the pieces of dough through a pasta roller attachment that fits on my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, but I do NOT mean an extrusion attachment, which pushes the dough through holes. I mean an attachment with rolling cylinders that look like a washing machine wringer, if you know what that is. There are hand-cranked machines that do this, such as the Marcato Atlas, which have to be temporarily secured to your counter or to a cutting board to keep them stable.
I NEVER clean the cylinders with water. I use a pastry brush held in one hand to clean them off as I turn the cylinder with the other hand
I start with the rolling cylinders at the widest setting and roll the piece of dough through once or twice. Then I lightly dust the length of now-flattened dough with flour using a feather brush, and keep going down a setting each time, putting it through the narrower and narrower settings one time for each setting until it's as thin as I want it.
I keep the sheets of pasta under kitchen towels as I go along.
When all the pasta has been rolled through, it's ready to use. You cut it into whatever shape you want or use it in sheets for lasagna or ravioli. Note that fresh pasta cooks almost instantly so be careful when you cook it.
Print recipe
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Paella A L'Americaine
Adapted from The French Chef by Julia Child
Serves 8
We were going out to dinner with Susan and Tony the other night. It took about a month's worth of planning and scheming and tossing around where to go. Finally, Susan said she had a GREAT place that they had been going to for years. It was fun and comfortable and had fabulous food, particularly garlic shrimp to die for. Sounded good to us, so Thursday night we met at El Charro Espanol, a Spanish restaurant that's been at 4 Charles Street for over 70 years.
Susan was right. The food was delicious - and not just because we drank a few pitchers of this-hits-the-spot sangria. The food was really, really good. Tapas were cold anchovies, sauteed chorizos, grilled octopus, and garlic shrimp. We split two entrees among the four of us - paella a la valenciana and mariscada (shellfish) in green sauce. We also had fried potatoes that were like slightly thick potato chips and were how-can-I-get-more-before-they're-all gone wonderful. All of this was followed by one little dessert that was closer to creme brulee than flan because there was burnt sugar on the top.
This got me to thinking about a dish I used to make for dinner parties a long time ago, Paella a L'Americaine, from, strangely enough, Julia Child's The French Chef, which was my first Julia book.
The recipe says that real Spanish rice works well in this dish and "short, fat imported Italian rice, which is sold in white cotton bags in many Italian neighborhoods, is equally good." In those days I had never looked for Spanish rice anywhere and had no idea what Arborio rice was, let alone Vialone Nano or Carnaroli. I used what Julia suggested as the best alternative, parboiled rice. In other words Uncle Ben's.
Paella can have anything in it as long as it has rice, saffron, garlic, and paprika. (Steph, remember pap-a-rika?) This one has pork, chicken, and shrimp with mussels and/or clams as optional ingredients.
Since I have been reminded of this dish, I'm going to make it again soon. In the meantime, if you try it, let me know what kind of rice you use and how it worked out.
This recipe calls for boiled shrimp, and I am wondering why the shrimp would be boiled instead of just cooked in the paella pan - especially since it marinates in lemon juice, which is going to "cook" it anyway. When I make this again, I am not going to cook the shrimp in advance, but I will shell it since, as I said, it marinates. By the way, I never devein my shrimp. Peggy, who is from Charleston, convinced me of this a long time ago, and I'm stickin' to it here. That way the shrimp stay nice and plump without a slit down the back. (if this sounds awful to you, you can actually take tweezers and pull the vein from the point where the head was severed from the body. What? You didn't know the heads have been severed? Sorry.)
Paella a L'Americaine
Step One - Chicken and Pork
1/2 pound pork butt (as I explained in my Pork Stock post, pork butt is pork shoulder butt, lean bacon, or lightly smoked ham
1 pound fresh chorizos or Italian pork sausages simmered 10 minutes in water and roughly diced (Julia says you can alternatively use cooked pork sausages, such as Polish sausage, so I don't see why dried chorizos wouldn't be good too.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced yellow onions
1 cup sliced green or red bell peppers or a combination of the two
8 chicken thighs or drumsticks, washed and thoroughly dried
1/2 cup dry white wine or French vermouth
4-1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon saffron flowers
1 teaspoon paprika (I would assume Spanish sweet paprika would be best, but I definitely didn't know about that when I was making this dish all the time, and I bet Julia wasn't thinking about that when she published this recipe in 1968.)
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
(The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, but I don't like dried oregano so I leave it out.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
In a skillet, brown the diced pork, bacon, or ham and the sausages lightly in olive oil. If there's a lot of fat in the pan, remove all but two tablespoons and reserve the rest. Add the onions and peppers to the pan, and cook until the vegetables are tender - about 10 minutes. Add the chopped garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds to release the flavor, but do not brown. Turn the heat off.
You want to brown the chicken pieces all over in a paella pan or a large braiser using either the reserved pork fat from above or more olive oil. Remember, the fat has to be hot when you add the chicken to prevent it from sticking. When the chicken is brown, take it out of the pan, and put it on a platter. Remove any excess fat from the pan, which you may have from browning the chicken. Transfer the vegetables from the skillet to the paella pan, and add the wine and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, and add the saffron, coriander, bay leaf, and thyme. (Add 1/2 teaspoon of oregano here if you are using it.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, and nestle the chicken back in the pan. Cover the pan, and simmer slowly for 20 minutes. The chicken will be about three-quarters cooked at this point.
Step Two - Shrimp
1 pound shrimp, shelled
1 tablespoon lemon juice
(Again, the recipe calls for dried oregano - 1/4 teaspoon, which I don't use.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 medium tomatoes
1 to 2 cups shelled green peas and/or diced green beans
Salt and pepper
Optional - 24 mussels and/or clams (Make sure they are either tightly closed or if slightly open, close tightly when touched. Mussels and clams must be scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed with a stiff brush until no more dirt from the shells is released into a bowl of cold water. Clams are sandy and should be left to stand in a bowl of salted cold water [1/2 cup salt to a gallon of water] for about an hour in the refrigerator to release sand. Rinse again in a colander before proceeding with the recipe to get rid of any sand that was purged while they were standing. The "beards" on mussels can be clipped with scissors. Mussels should be refrigerated until ready to use.)
Toss the shrimp in a bowl with the lemon juice, (oregano if you are using it), oil, and seasonings, and refrigerate. Halve the tomatoes and squeeze out the juice and seeds, and chop the tomatoes roughly. If you want to peel them, drop them into boiling water for 10 seconds before you halve them, and the skin will slip off easily. You can also peel them with a swivel peeler, which is what Marcella does. You have to use a sort-of zig-zag motion to do this, but it works. My favorite swivel peeler looks like a slingshot. )
Cook the peas and/or beans in boiling, salted water until barely done. (They will cook a little more later; but you don't want them underdone at the end.) This will only take a few minutes, but you have to taste them as you would spaghetti, to get them at the right point. Drain, stop them from cooking further by running cold water over them, and set aside.
Step Three - Final Cooking
2 cups rice - Spanish, Italian (Arborio, Vialone Nano, or Carnaroli), or parboiled rice (Uncle Ben's or a Spanish brand, which can be found in the market for far less money)
2 lemons quartered, for garnish
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
On top of the stove bring the contents of the paella pan to a boil. Sprinkle in the rice, pushing it down into the liquid with a spoon. Boil for about 5 minutes. Do not cover the pan, and do not stir the rice. As the rice cooks, it will absorb liquid, swell, and rise to the surface of the pan. When it does, strew on the shrimp, peas and/or beans, and tomatoes. Do not stir at any time during the cooking or the rice will get gummy. Just push the ingredients into the rice with a spoon. If you are using the mussels and/or clams, insert them them shell side down into the rice now.
Reduce the heat. Simmer the paella for about 7 more minutes until the rice is al dente. The liquid should all be absorbed when it is done. You should not have to cover the pan, but if the rice isn't cooking properly, you can sprinkle a few tablespoons of water or stock on the top, cover for a few minutes, then uncover to finish the cooking. You sort of have to figure this out the first time you make it. It will depend on variables, such as the pan you are using, the heat from your burner, etc.
When done, turn off the heat, garnish the paella with lemon quarters and chopped parsley, and serve immediately from the paella pan.
All you need is a tart green salad and whatever wine you feel like drinking with it. I would choose a minerally, crisp white. Dessert could be creme caramel or fruit. I am partial to a bowl of cold cherries these days.
Print recipe.
Serves 8
We were going out to dinner with Susan and Tony the other night. It took about a month's worth of planning and scheming and tossing around where to go. Finally, Susan said she had a GREAT place that they had been going to for years. It was fun and comfortable and had fabulous food, particularly garlic shrimp to die for. Sounded good to us, so Thursday night we met at El Charro Espanol, a Spanish restaurant that's been at 4 Charles Street for over 70 years.
Susan was right. The food was delicious - and not just because we drank a few pitchers of this-hits-the-spot sangria. The food was really, really good. Tapas were cold anchovies, sauteed chorizos, grilled octopus, and garlic shrimp. We split two entrees among the four of us - paella a la valenciana and mariscada (shellfish) in green sauce. We also had fried potatoes that were like slightly thick potato chips and were how-can-I-get-more-before-they're-all gone wonderful. All of this was followed by one little dessert that was closer to creme brulee than flan because there was burnt sugar on the top.
This got me to thinking about a dish I used to make for dinner parties a long time ago, Paella a L'Americaine, from, strangely enough, Julia Child's The French Chef, which was my first Julia book.
The recipe says that real Spanish rice works well in this dish and "short, fat imported Italian rice, which is sold in white cotton bags in many Italian neighborhoods, is equally good." In those days I had never looked for Spanish rice anywhere and had no idea what Arborio rice was, let alone Vialone Nano or Carnaroli. I used what Julia suggested as the best alternative, parboiled rice. In other words Uncle Ben's.
Paella can have anything in it as long as it has rice, saffron, garlic, and paprika. (Steph, remember pap-a-rika?) This one has pork, chicken, and shrimp with mussels and/or clams as optional ingredients.
Since I have been reminded of this dish, I'm going to make it again soon. In the meantime, if you try it, let me know what kind of rice you use and how it worked out.
This recipe calls for boiled shrimp, and I am wondering why the shrimp would be boiled instead of just cooked in the paella pan - especially since it marinates in lemon juice, which is going to "cook" it anyway. When I make this again, I am not going to cook the shrimp in advance, but I will shell it since, as I said, it marinates. By the way, I never devein my shrimp. Peggy, who is from Charleston, convinced me of this a long time ago, and I'm stickin' to it here. That way the shrimp stay nice and plump without a slit down the back. (if this sounds awful to you, you can actually take tweezers and pull the vein from the point where the head was severed from the body. What? You didn't know the heads have been severed? Sorry.)
Paella a L'Americaine
Step One - Chicken and Pork
1/2 pound pork butt (as I explained in my Pork Stock post, pork butt is pork shoulder butt, lean bacon, or lightly smoked ham
1 pound fresh chorizos or Italian pork sausages simmered 10 minutes in water and roughly diced (Julia says you can alternatively use cooked pork sausages, such as Polish sausage, so I don't see why dried chorizos wouldn't be good too.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced yellow onions
1 cup sliced green or red bell peppers or a combination of the two
8 chicken thighs or drumsticks, washed and thoroughly dried
1/2 cup dry white wine or French vermouth
4-1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon saffron flowers
1 teaspoon paprika (I would assume Spanish sweet paprika would be best, but I definitely didn't know about that when I was making this dish all the time, and I bet Julia wasn't thinking about that when she published this recipe in 1968.)
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
(The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, but I don't like dried oregano so I leave it out.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
In a skillet, brown the diced pork, bacon, or ham and the sausages lightly in olive oil. If there's a lot of fat in the pan, remove all but two tablespoons and reserve the rest. Add the onions and peppers to the pan, and cook until the vegetables are tender - about 10 minutes. Add the chopped garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds to release the flavor, but do not brown. Turn the heat off.
You want to brown the chicken pieces all over in a paella pan or a large braiser using either the reserved pork fat from above or more olive oil. Remember, the fat has to be hot when you add the chicken to prevent it from sticking. When the chicken is brown, take it out of the pan, and put it on a platter. Remove any excess fat from the pan, which you may have from browning the chicken. Transfer the vegetables from the skillet to the paella pan, and add the wine and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, and add the saffron, coriander, bay leaf, and thyme. (Add 1/2 teaspoon of oregano here if you are using it.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, and nestle the chicken back in the pan. Cover the pan, and simmer slowly for 20 minutes. The chicken will be about three-quarters cooked at this point.
Step Two - Shrimp
1 pound shrimp, shelled
1 tablespoon lemon juice
(Again, the recipe calls for dried oregano - 1/4 teaspoon, which I don't use.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 medium tomatoes
1 to 2 cups shelled green peas and/or diced green beans
Salt and pepper
Optional - 24 mussels and/or clams (Make sure they are either tightly closed or if slightly open, close tightly when touched. Mussels and clams must be scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed with a stiff brush until no more dirt from the shells is released into a bowl of cold water. Clams are sandy and should be left to stand in a bowl of salted cold water [1/2 cup salt to a gallon of water] for about an hour in the refrigerator to release sand. Rinse again in a colander before proceeding with the recipe to get rid of any sand that was purged while they were standing. The "beards" on mussels can be clipped with scissors. Mussels should be refrigerated until ready to use.)
Toss the shrimp in a bowl with the lemon juice, (oregano if you are using it), oil, and seasonings, and refrigerate. Halve the tomatoes and squeeze out the juice and seeds, and chop the tomatoes roughly. If you want to peel them, drop them into boiling water for 10 seconds before you halve them, and the skin will slip off easily. You can also peel them with a swivel peeler, which is what Marcella does. You have to use a sort-of zig-zag motion to do this, but it works. My favorite swivel peeler looks like a slingshot. )
Cook the peas and/or beans in boiling, salted water until barely done. (They will cook a little more later; but you don't want them underdone at the end.) This will only take a few minutes, but you have to taste them as you would spaghetti, to get them at the right point. Drain, stop them from cooking further by running cold water over them, and set aside.
Step Three - Final Cooking
2 cups rice - Spanish, Italian (Arborio, Vialone Nano, or Carnaroli), or parboiled rice (Uncle Ben's or a Spanish brand, which can be found in the market for far less money)
2 lemons quartered, for garnish
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
On top of the stove bring the contents of the paella pan to a boil. Sprinkle in the rice, pushing it down into the liquid with a spoon. Boil for about 5 minutes. Do not cover the pan, and do not stir the rice. As the rice cooks, it will absorb liquid, swell, and rise to the surface of the pan. When it does, strew on the shrimp, peas and/or beans, and tomatoes. Do not stir at any time during the cooking or the rice will get gummy. Just push the ingredients into the rice with a spoon. If you are using the mussels and/or clams, insert them them shell side down into the rice now.
Reduce the heat. Simmer the paella for about 7 more minutes until the rice is al dente. The liquid should all be absorbed when it is done. You should not have to cover the pan, but if the rice isn't cooking properly, you can sprinkle a few tablespoons of water or stock on the top, cover for a few minutes, then uncover to finish the cooking. You sort of have to figure this out the first time you make it. It will depend on variables, such as the pan you are using, the heat from your burner, etc.
When done, turn off the heat, garnish the paella with lemon quarters and chopped parsley, and serve immediately from the paella pan.
All you need is a tart green salad and whatever wine you feel like drinking with it. I would choose a minerally, crisp white. Dessert could be creme caramel or fruit. I am partial to a bowl of cold cherries these days.
Print recipe.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Chicken Country Captain
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
The 1964 Joy of Cooking was my first cookbook. I received it from a college friend when I got engaged. Then when I got the 1975 revision, another friend of mine asked for the older version, and I gladly handed it over. That new revision, however, didn't have everything the previous edition had in it, and I was glad to get the 1964 edition again, which was released as a single volume paperback available from 1973 through the early 90's.
I don't use Joy much anymore because I usually turn to The Fannie Farmer Cookbook if I need something really basic that I don't already have a recipe for, but Joy is good to have in your library. Michael Ruhlman kept the 1997 edition, with fourteen other books piled on the floor next to him as he wrote The Elements of Cooking. However, that particular edition eliminated Country Captain so don't look for this recipe there.
Chicken Country Captain is a recipe with a history.
Country Captain is delicious served with buttered fresh green beans or English peas, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Cucumber and Sour Cream Salad, fried plain pappadams (but I wouldn't be averse to trying excellent lightly salted potato chips, and Baked Banana Splits for dessert.
Country Captain
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking, 1964 Edition
Serves 4 to 6
2 whole boneless chicken breasts (I haven't tried them, but boneless thighs might work well)
1/2 cup flour (I use Wondra) seasoned with salt, pepper, and sweet paprika
1 onion about the size of a teacup, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 cups stewed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup butter or oil
3 tablespoons currants or raisins
Toasted slivered almonds for garnish
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces using kitchen shears. Coat the chicken pieces with seasoned flour, and put on a plate as you go along.
In a sauté pan, brown the flour-coated chicken pieces in butter (delicious) or oil (I use grapeseed oil, which is neutral). As the chicken pieces are browned, remove them from the sauté pan, and set aside.
Add the diced onion to the saute pan, and cook until the onion wilts and just starts to turn pale gold. Add the diced green pepper, and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Add the curry powder, and cook for about 1 minute to lose the raw taste and allow the flavor to "bloom." Add the stewed tomatoes and thyme. Stir the contents of the pan to deglaze. Bring just to a boil, then turn the heat down. You can add a little salt, but be sparing and taste carefully because the chicken is coated with seasoned flour.
If the sauté pan is big enough to hold the sauce and the chicken and can fit into the oven, put the chicken back in the pan, and put it in the oven. Otherwise put everything in another pan or casserole, and put that in the oven.
Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes. Add currants or raisins for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Sprinkle toasted slivered almonds over the top before serving.
Print recipe
I don't use Joy much anymore because I usually turn to The Fannie Farmer Cookbook if I need something really basic that I don't already have a recipe for, but Joy is good to have in your library. Michael Ruhlman kept the 1997 edition, with fourteen other books piled on the floor next to him as he wrote The Elements of Cooking. However, that particular edition eliminated Country Captain so don't look for this recipe there.
Chicken Country Captain is a recipe with a history.
This delicious dish, known through Georgia, dates to the early 1800s. It is thought that this dish was brought to Georgia by a British sea captain who had been stationed in Bengali, India and shared the recipe with some friends in the port city of Savannah, Georgia. Savannah was then a major shipping port for the spice trade. The dish was named for the officers in India called "Country Captains."
The recipe here is adapted from the famous version made popular by Cecily Brownstone. I make it with boneless chicken breasts (which is not a change I would normally make as I like most meat and poultry on the bone) so it's perfect for a buffet. It's also not an adaptation that Cecily Brownstone would approve. In fact, it would have given her fits. The recipe here might be closer to her original.
Linda Stradley, History of Poultry Dishes, What's Cooking America
Country Captain is delicious served with buttered fresh green beans or English peas, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Cucumber and Sour Cream Salad, fried plain pappadams (but I wouldn't be averse to trying excellent lightly salted potato chips, and Baked Banana Splits for dessert.
Country Captain
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking, 1964 Edition
Serves 4 to 6
2 whole boneless chicken breasts (I haven't tried them, but boneless thighs might work well)
1/2 cup flour (I use Wondra) seasoned with salt, pepper, and sweet paprika
1 onion about the size of a teacup, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 cups stewed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup butter or oil
3 tablespoons currants or raisins
Toasted slivered almonds for garnish
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces using kitchen shears. Coat the chicken pieces with seasoned flour, and put on a plate as you go along.
In a sauté pan, brown the flour-coated chicken pieces in butter (delicious) or oil (I use grapeseed oil, which is neutral). As the chicken pieces are browned, remove them from the sauté pan, and set aside.
Add the diced onion to the saute pan, and cook until the onion wilts and just starts to turn pale gold. Add the diced green pepper, and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Add the curry powder, and cook for about 1 minute to lose the raw taste and allow the flavor to "bloom." Add the stewed tomatoes and thyme. Stir the contents of the pan to deglaze. Bring just to a boil, then turn the heat down. You can add a little salt, but be sparing and taste carefully because the chicken is coated with seasoned flour.
If the sauté pan is big enough to hold the sauce and the chicken and can fit into the oven, put the chicken back in the pan, and put it in the oven. Otherwise put everything in another pan or casserole, and put that in the oven.
Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes. Add currants or raisins for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Sprinkle toasted slivered almonds over the top before serving.
Print recipe
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Susanna Foo's Fried Rice
Adapted from Chinese Cuisine by Susanna Foo
Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side dish
I wrote a post around the time of the 2008 Lunar New Year about my favorite Chinese cookbooks and talked a little bit about this book, which is wonderful. The good news is it's back in print. If you have any interest at all in Chinese food, you will love reading Ms. Foo's story, and you may find that the food in this book is different from the Chinese food you're used to. It's very light and often easy to make. Her favorite recipe for fried rice is a revelation.
Ms. Foo suggests using medium- or short-grain rice rather than long grain rice for this dish. I agree it's better; however, if all you have in the house is long-grain rice, don't avoid making it. It will still be good - and in the long run you might like it better.
I've never tried it with brown rice so I can't swear it will be good using it in place of white rice, but there's no reason not to give it a go to see how you like it if brown rice is your thing. There's also wonderful, fragrant basmati rice, and delicious jasmine rice, both of which might be delicious too. There are a lot of possibilities. I would just suggest making it with white rice the first time so you can do a comparison.
Ms. Foo calls for using a rice cooker, which I don't have. So make rice the way you normally do, and proceed from there. I usually have luck cooking one cup rice to 1-1/2 cups of lightly salted water. I start out by putting everything together in a saucepan, and usually use my All-Clad stainless steel 2-quart because the narrow shape is great for cooking rice. I bring it to a boil, stirring once with a chopstick, put a lid on it, immediately turn the heat to very low, and cook it for about 17 minutes. I peek at it then, and if it's done, I remove the pan from the heat, and leave it still covered for about 10 minutes, which seems to fluff it out. Medium- or short-grain rice is more sticky than long grain and doesn't exactly "fluff."
2 cups raw rice cooked the way you normally cook it. If you're interested in what I do, see above.
5 tablespoons oil - you can use a neutral oil or olive oil (see what I mean about how different it is from what you expect with Chinese food)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 cup diced Canadian bacon*
1/2 cup cooked peas
1/2 cup corn kernels (I only add corn when I have fresh corn available)
4 scallions, sliced thin on the diagonal
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
Up to 2 teaspoons Maldon Salt
Freshly ground pepper (does anybody ever use pepper that isn't freshly ground?)
Chiffonade of fresh basil (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup, which is a lot of basil, so use your best judgment about how much you want to add) "To chiffonade basil...or any other leaves, stack them, roll them into a tight bundle and slice them crosswise into very fine ribbons." Michael Ruhlman, The Elements of Cooking, Page 87. Get this book immediately if you haven't gotten it already.
*For the Canadian bacon you can substitute anything you feel like - chicken, shrimp, ham, etc. I am partial to Jone's Little Link Pork Sausage, of course cooked first then cut into small pieces.
Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet until hot. Add the eggs, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until set lightly. Stir the eggs to break them into small pieces, and cook the pieces until lightly browned. Remove the eggs from the pan, and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan. Cook the onion over high heat until golden, then add the bacon, peas, corn if you're using it, and scallions. Cook for about 3 minutes until heated through.
Add the tomato, sprinkle with the Maldon Salt, crushing it between your fingers, and stir in the cooked rice and egg. Break up any lumps in the pan, mix, and cook for about 2 more minutes until everything in the pan is heated. Turn off the heat. Season with pepper, and stir in the basil.
Print recipe
Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side dish
I wrote a post around the time of the 2008 Lunar New Year about my favorite Chinese cookbooks and talked a little bit about this book, which is wonderful. The good news is it's back in print. If you have any interest at all in Chinese food, you will love reading Ms. Foo's story, and you may find that the food in this book is different from the Chinese food you're used to. It's very light and often easy to make. Her favorite recipe for fried rice is a revelation.
Ms. Foo suggests using medium- or short-grain rice rather than long grain rice for this dish. I agree it's better; however, if all you have in the house is long-grain rice, don't avoid making it. It will still be good - and in the long run you might like it better.
I've never tried it with brown rice so I can't swear it will be good using it in place of white rice, but there's no reason not to give it a go to see how you like it if brown rice is your thing. There's also wonderful, fragrant basmati rice, and delicious jasmine rice, both of which might be delicious too. There are a lot of possibilities. I would just suggest making it with white rice the first time so you can do a comparison.
Ms. Foo calls for using a rice cooker, which I don't have. So make rice the way you normally do, and proceed from there. I usually have luck cooking one cup rice to 1-1/2 cups of lightly salted water. I start out by putting everything together in a saucepan, and usually use my All-Clad stainless steel 2-quart because the narrow shape is great for cooking rice. I bring it to a boil, stirring once with a chopstick, put a lid on it, immediately turn the heat to very low, and cook it for about 17 minutes. I peek at it then, and if it's done, I remove the pan from the heat, and leave it still covered for about 10 minutes, which seems to fluff it out. Medium- or short-grain rice is more sticky than long grain and doesn't exactly "fluff."
2 cups raw rice cooked the way you normally cook it. If you're interested in what I do, see above.
5 tablespoons oil - you can use a neutral oil or olive oil (see what I mean about how different it is from what you expect with Chinese food)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 cup diced Canadian bacon*
1/2 cup cooked peas
1/2 cup corn kernels (I only add corn when I have fresh corn available)
4 scallions, sliced thin on the diagonal
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
Up to 2 teaspoons Maldon Salt
Freshly ground pepper (does anybody ever use pepper that isn't freshly ground?)
Chiffonade of fresh basil (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup, which is a lot of basil, so use your best judgment about how much you want to add) "To chiffonade basil...or any other leaves, stack them, roll them into a tight bundle and slice them crosswise into very fine ribbons." Michael Ruhlman, The Elements of Cooking, Page 87. Get this book immediately if you haven't gotten it already.
*For the Canadian bacon you can substitute anything you feel like - chicken, shrimp, ham, etc. I am partial to Jone's Little Link Pork Sausage, of course cooked first then cut into small pieces.
Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet until hot. Add the eggs, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until set lightly. Stir the eggs to break them into small pieces, and cook the pieces until lightly browned. Remove the eggs from the pan, and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan. Cook the onion over high heat until golden, then add the bacon, peas, corn if you're using it, and scallions. Cook for about 3 minutes until heated through.
Add the tomato, sprinkle with the Maldon Salt, crushing it between your fingers, and stir in the cooked rice and egg. Break up any lumps in the pan, mix, and cook for about 2 more minutes until everything in the pan is heated. Turn off the heat. Season with pepper, and stir in the basil.
Print recipe
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Frittata with Pasta
Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan
4 Servngs
I haven't been around here for a long time. For those of you who don't already know, I have started cooking my way through The Zuni Cafe Cookbook and blogging about it, and it's been happily occupying a lot of my time. But I don't want this blog to become an orphan; I'm too attached to it for that, so I'm going to try and post at least once a week here - for as long as I have anything to say.A few weeks ago I had occasion to be in the City on a Saturday and found myself in the position of wanting to make lunch for two of us using what I already had hanging around. The rest of the day was going to be spent running errands - including food shopping - and I didn't want to make a fast run to the market before that. So I poked around and decided I would try a frittata with pasta. I guess you usually use leftover pasta for this dish, but I didn't have any of that so I made some specifically for this purpose.
It turned out great, proving once again that it's hard to beat Marcella for something simple and delicious that you're going to want to eat again. I served it with halved cherry tomatoes sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon Salt and chopped parsley. I know I will make this dish often.
1/2 pound spaghetti
Salt
3 tablespoons of butter
1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3 eggs, beaten with a little salt and put in a bowl large enough to hold the cooked spaghetti
Preheat the broiler.
Cook the spaghetti a little less than al dente. Drain, and toss with 2 tablespoons of butter; then add the grated cheese, and toss again. Set aside to cool a little (so it won't cook the eggs in the next step).
Add the cooked spaghetti to the bowl of beaten eggs, and mix thoroughly, distributing the eggs evenly through the pasta.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Before the butter starts to color, add the pasta/egg mixture to the skillet. Cook until the underside of the frittata has turned golden; then run the pan under the broiler until the top is the same color.
Alternatively, you can flip the frittata in the pan to color the other side, but I find this more difficult to do unless I'm making a small individual frittata.
Slide the frittata onto a platter, and cut it into wedges like a pie.
This is delicious served immediately or at room temperature.
Print recipe.
4 Servngs
I haven't been around here for a long time. For those of you who don't already know, I have started cooking my way through The Zuni Cafe Cookbook and blogging about it, and it's been happily occupying a lot of my time. But I don't want this blog to become an orphan; I'm too attached to it for that, so I'm going to try and post at least once a week here - for as long as I have anything to say.A few weeks ago I had occasion to be in the City on a Saturday and found myself in the position of wanting to make lunch for two of us using what I already had hanging around. The rest of the day was going to be spent running errands - including food shopping - and I didn't want to make a fast run to the market before that. So I poked around and decided I would try a frittata with pasta. I guess you usually use leftover pasta for this dish, but I didn't have any of that so I made some specifically for this purpose.
It turned out great, proving once again that it's hard to beat Marcella for something simple and delicious that you're going to want to eat again. I served it with halved cherry tomatoes sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon Salt and chopped parsley. I know I will make this dish often.
1/2 pound spaghetti
Salt
3 tablespoons of butter
1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3 eggs, beaten with a little salt and put in a bowl large enough to hold the cooked spaghetti
Preheat the broiler.
Cook the spaghetti a little less than al dente. Drain, and toss with 2 tablespoons of butter; then add the grated cheese, and toss again. Set aside to cool a little (so it won't cook the eggs in the next step).
Add the cooked spaghetti to the bowl of beaten eggs, and mix thoroughly, distributing the eggs evenly through the pasta.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Before the butter starts to color, add the pasta/egg mixture to the skillet. Cook until the underside of the frittata has turned golden; then run the pan under the broiler until the top is the same color.
Alternatively, you can flip the frittata in the pan to color the other side, but I find this more difficult to do unless I'm making a small individual frittata.
Slide the frittata onto a platter, and cut it into wedges like a pie.
This is delicious served immediately or at room temperature.
Print recipe.
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