» pasta

Respect Your Pasta

Joe — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:15:49 +0000

When you’re making pasta… please, please, please make sure to mix your pasta sauce (not gravy… you turkey) with your pasta before serving it! Don’t serve pasta with sauce just plopped on top.

Italians don't do this... mix your sauce with your pasta!

Cooking with Sopressata – Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Joe — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:39:01 +0000

Do you ever have those days where you think: What are we going to cook for dinner? You need to go grocery shopping, you didn’t take anything out of the freezer and you really don’t want to make anything that takes too much effort. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is the perfect dish for such an occasion!

I haven’t made Spaghetti alla Carbonara in a long time but a few weeks ago I was visiting Chef Chuck and noticed the great new videos on his blog. I watched him cook a Carbonara and told myself I had to make it again soon, so last night – I did. It’s a great tasting, easy to cook recipe that the whole family will love!

Here’s what you need (serves 2):

1/2 pound of spaghetti (I like Spaghetti #12 because it’s a bit thicker)
1 onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
diced sopressata, bacon or pancetta
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 egg
1/3 cup of grated parmigiano or romano cheese
salt and pepper

Here’s what you need to do:

Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a large saucepan and simmer your onions, garlic and sopressata for 10-15 minutes over low heat until your onions are caramelized.
Beat your egg and grated parmigiano cheese together in a bowl and set it aside.
Cook your spaghetti separately and then add it to the saucepan with your onions, garlic and sopressata.
Pour the egg and parmigiano over your spaghetti and mix it all together. The hot spaghetti will cook the egg as you mix it all together. If it’s too thick you can add a splash of pasta water (the water you cooked the past in.)
Add salt and pepper to taste… remember that the sopressata (bacon or pancetta) is already pretty salty, so you probably won’t need to add much salt.

Pretty simple right? Make sure to visit Chef Chuck and see him cook it on video.

Oh, did I mention that the Sopressata is ready?? We won first prize AGAIN! Do you want to try it? I’m giving one away so this is what you have to do to participate. Comment on this post by Friday at 5pm EST and retweet this post by clicking on the retweet button in the upper right hand corner (you’re not on twitter?!!? Get it together! you’ll need to sing-up now won’t you?) I’ll choose a winner at random… for US participants only (sorry but sending meats internationally isn’t easy or cheap!)

PS – Chuck gets a sopressata for the inspiration. Thanks Chef!

Pasta con Pollo e Funghi

Joe — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:38:38 +0000

Ever since Linda from Ciao Chow Linda sent me some dried morel mushrooms that her brother found, I’ve been thinking about what to make with them. If you don’t know yet, I’m a huge fan of foraging for wild mushrooms. You can read about some other wild mushroom recipes here and here.

So I decided to make a pasta recipe and it did not disappoint!

This is what you need:

1 pound of short cut pasta – I used ziti
1-2 oz of dried morel mushrooms
olive oil
pancetta – handful, diced
1/4 pound of chicken breast cut into small cubes
1 shallot – chopped
1-2 cloves of chopped garlic
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of grated parmigiano
salt & pepper

This is what you need to do:

Bring approximately 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot, then add your dried morel mushrooms and let them boil for about 15 minutes so they reconstitute. Take your morel mushrooms out, chop them into small pieces and put the water aside (do not throw the water out.)

In a large sauce pan, add a splash of olive oil, your garlic, shallot and pancetta and let it simmer for a few minutes. Then add your morels and chicken. Let it cook until the chicken is almost completely cooked through (about 10 minutes.) Add the water from your morels and bring it to a boil, then add your cream, salt & pepper and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered to let the liquid reduce. Lastly, add your parmigiano (which will thicken the sauce)… mix in your cooked pasta and give it a good stir. Pour 2 glasses of Pinot Noir (one for you and one for your significant other… you don’t want to get in trouble) and serve. Enjoy and buon appetito!

Prince Spaghetti Day

Joe — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:27:00 +0000

If you have never been to Boston’s North End, you’re missing one of the great “little Italys” in the US. NY’s little Italy has more or less vanished and been gobbled up by China Town but Boston still has an authentic Italian American neighborhood and population in the North End.

Since I’m on the topic of pasta, I thought I would share this video. Prince is a pasta brand born from Italian immigrants that came to Boston in the early 1900′s and Prince Street is one of the main streets in the North End. I haven’t had Prince in a long time, so I don’t know how it stacks up against other pasta brands. According to their website, it was sold in 1987 to Borden Inc. (a non-Italian company.)

If you grew up in New England, you might remember this commercial for Prince. It’s a classic! There’s also a re-make of it. You can find both on the Prince website (www.princepasta.com). The great part of this commercial is that Anthony (the boy in the commercial) was a boy that lived in the North End and was approached on the street by the producers of the commercial to be in it. Wednesday’s are still Prince Spaghetti Day:)

Brand Italy – Barilla

Joe — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:23:00 +0000

Happy June!
Last week was a crazy week! I helped my brother move out of his house and into his new house, so there was plenty of catching up to do on the work front when I got back, which is why I haven’t posted much.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and when I opened a box of Barilla thin spaghetti, I was surprised to find this.

Did someone forget to do something here or are we looking at a new cut of pasta?

Barilla as a brand has managed to rise to the top of the packaged dry-pasta world, while maintaining authenticity and its Italianess. There are many brands that claim to be Italian but have not maintained their authenticity. Many of these same brands are brands that have been gobbled up by large international companies over the years and are no longer managed by Italians, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise. That is not the case with Barilla as they are still Italian owned. According to their website, they became the number one brand of pasta in the US in 1999 and by 2003 had twice the market share of their next largest competitor. All that being said… it’s hard to maintain brand quality when you’re the “big pomodoro” on the block. Has Barilla lost its edge? What would the Barilla brothers say if they knew the above pasta came out of a box of Barilla thin spaghetti? Overall, in my opinion, its a good quality pasta that is consistent. The above sample aside, you (usually) know what you’re going to get with Barilla. Are they the best? I prefer De Cecco myself but can only find limited varieties in my local grocery store. What are your thoughts on Barilla? and what’s your favorite readily available dry-pasta brand?

This or That

Joe — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:15:00 +0000

Growing up and to this day, my siblings and I are often asked (like most Italian-Americans) why our pasta is so good. Our non-Italian friends could never get the same “goodness” at their own house. The answer was a simple, “we’re Italian.” and it sort of ended there. Fast forward to college where my house mates would purchase jarred tomato sauce at the grocery store to my disapproval and then to my surprise and outrage, they would LIKE IT! I of course would mumble, “che schifo” under my breathe. Brands like “Ragu” and “Prego” are not much different than a bottle of ketchup….. not to mention that as you probably know, “Prego” means “you’re welcome”. You’re welcome???? for what?! For ruining my pasta?

So while I was making sauce yesterday, I thought about it….. what’s the secret? I’ll tell you the secret. Some people add their own “this” and others add “that” and they swear by it. I have no doubt it’s a great sauce but the real secret is in the photo.

A- The tomato sauce is jarred every summer from local ripe tomatoes (nothing added, no preservatives…. just tomatoes)
B – The sausage was homemade the other day.

Try getting that at the grocery store.

It not the ingredients…. everyone knows what goes into a red sauce and if you don’t, you can easily find out by going online or reading a recipe book. It’s the quality of the ingredients that counts. Here in New England, you can find local, ripe tomatoes in late summer… period. The tomatoes you find at the grocery store this time of year came from far far away and when they left, they weren’t red (hope that’s not a surprise to anyone.) So if you have quality ingredients where you’re from…. beato te! and go out and make yourself a great sauce. Buon appetito!

PS- My “this” is a chicken bullion cube. Give it a try. What’s your this or that?