Bucatini Pomodoro

I have been completely obsessed with making pasta the past few weeks.  Its been almost two years since I went to Rome and I have been finding myself daydreaming about pasta, gelato, and granita.  I loved Rome and for two years have been trying to plan another trip to Italy.  It hasn't worked out so far (even though its just a very short plane ride away *sob*).

So I have been attempting to bring Italy to me by learning to make delicious pasta dishes.  Bon Appetit magazine must have read my mind too, because their entire May issue was dedicated to Italy - with an awesome tutorial on how to make perfect pasta.  The cover recipe?  Bucatini Pomodoro.  I immediately tried it - and I kid you not we have eaten this for dinner once a week since (not really so great for the diet, but whatchagonnado).

Pasta really is such an affordable meal though, and when you figure out how to do it right, even simple spaghetti with tomato sauce seems like an indulgent gourmet meal.  I spend just a little extra buying some fantastic pasta imported from Italy (though that is cheaper here in Europe than I would imagine it is in say, the US) and also slightly-better-than-cheapest canned tomatoes.  I see a huge difference in quality (the pasta itself and the tomatoes are truly everything in this recipe) for just a few extra cents that, to me, its worth it.  However, even with the cheapest stuff this is just damned good.   Enjoy with a favorite bottle of wine and it turns 'spaghetti night' into something extra special.

Bucatni Pomodoro
from this recipe from the May issue of Bon Appetit

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
pinch Red Pepper Flakes
a few glugs dry Red Wine (I use the Chianti we drink with the meal)
2 cans whole tomatoes, pureed in food processor
a few basil sprigs
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
12 oz bucatini or spegetti (I really recommend the bucatini!)


Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the onion and saute until soft, 10 to 12 minutes.  Add the Garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for another minute or two.  Raise heat to medim and pour in the wine and allow to simmer down for a minute or so (this was my addition and I really think it made a BIG difference in the flavor/richness of the sauce but feel free to leave it out).  Add the pureed tomatoes and cook for around 20 minutes, or until sauce thickens and flavors combine.  Remove from heat, stir in the basil, and set aside (this can be done waaay ahead too).

Cook your pasta in salted boiling water until a few minutes shy of al dente (follow times on the package to help you cook it just right).  Reserve 1/2 cup (I always set aside a whole cup just in case) of the starchy cooking water and drain.

Remove the basil from the sauce and return to the heat (on high).   Add 1/2 cup pasta water and bring to a boil.  Add the pasta and toss to coat - allow to cook until pasta is al dente (should be just a minute or two).  Remove from heat and add the butter and parmesan, tossing to combine until its all melted.  Serve warm! 

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

This is it.  The Soother of Souls, the Cure for the Common Cold (watch Mad Men?), The Comfort Food of all Comfort Foods.  If you have browsed around this blog much, you might realize I love to cook and eat all the good ol' American comfort foods: meatloaf, chili, lasagna, and lots and lots and lots of soup. 

And apparently, its like soup week or something around here.  I really cannot seem to get enough of it.  Its not just that I like eating it either - I love making soup.  Its something I can do with relative ease - its easy to plan for, easy to complete, easy to clean up and easy to store.  Is it because I'm pregnant that I find the need to absolutely fill my freezer to the brim with containers of soup?  Is this so-called nesting?  I have no idea but it has become a damn near obsession. 

I don't know if this one will make it to the freezer though, because its just too good.  Bowl after bowl-full.  There is just something about chicken noodle soup that makes you want to go back for seconds.  The broth is rich and strong but none of the flavors overpower the chicken.  Its hearty enough to fill you up after a long day working, chasing kids or cleaning house (or hopefully something far more exciting) - but its also mild enough to make a great warm meal when you are feeling under the weather.  And with the season changing and bringing lots of rain, I have a feeling there is going to be something going around before long.


Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
5 cups Chicken Broth or Stock
1 cup water
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 of a Celery Root, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 cup pulled/shredded Chicken breast
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup finely diced carrot (about 1 carrot)
1/2 cup finely diced leek (about 1 small leek)
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
2 to 2 1/2 cups cooked pasta (I used Gemili - you could use Egg noodles, Linguine broken into bite sized bits, or whatever suits your fancy: here is a great guide to pasta shapes)
Salt
Pepper

Place the Broth, water, onion, 2 carrots, celery root, parsley and garlic in soup pot.  Season with salt if needed (it really just depends on your broth).  Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for around 30 or 40 minutes.

Drain through a fine sieve and/or cheesecloth (reserving broth and straining out all the veggies and sediment).  Place the pulled chicken in the broth and cover and set aside.

In your soup pot, heat Olive Oil then add the diced carrot and leek, thyme and pinch or so of black pepper.  Saute for around 10 minutes - until the veggies get nice and soft and leeks are just starting to brown/caramelize.

Add half of the broth, cover and gently simmer for around 10  minutes.  Add the rest of the stock, pulled chicken and cooked pasta.  Taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary, then gently simmer for a few more minutes (don't let it cook too long, or sit for a long time after cooking, as the pasta tends to just soak up all that broth). 

Serve nice and warm, ladled into bowls with a pinch or two of chopped parsley.

Lasagna Bolognese

I don't know about where you live, but here in Berlin there is no sign of spring yet. Sure, all the snow and ice melted a few weeks ago - but the temperatures are still stubbornly hovering just above freezing and we are seeing little snow flurries every time the sun disappears (whimper). This has been a seriously brutal winter - for people all over the Northern Hemisphere - and I for one decided I needed more good hearty comfort food to see me through its final weeks (we'll just forget everything I said before about a diet).

I think when it comes to comfort food, Lasagna might be the king. It is hearty and filling, oozing with cheese - just the perfect combination of simple flavors and ingredients. Even the lengthy preparation of Lasagna is somehow cathartic and soothing to me. The smells of simmering marinara, sizzling meat, and sauteing onions and garlic fill the house - then once it goes in the oven add to that the smell of bubbling parmesan and mozzerella cheese. Everyone will start to gather to the kitchen, only to finally come together around the table and fill their bellies to complete satisfaction. There is nothing better.

After a meal like that, I always feel warm and cozy and a little sleepy. Snuggle up on the couch with a good movie and falling asleep is the perfect dessert. My dreams will be filled with sunny summer days relaxing in biergarten's by the Spree sipping a cold banana Weizen - that is coming soon enough (I hope!) - but for now I might as well enjoy the last cold days of winter with some warm comforting food.


Lasagna Bolognese
1 lb mince meat - pork and beef mix (450g hackfleish gemischte)
4 cups Simple Marinara Sauce
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 large onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped, plus 5 or 6 whole leaves
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbs dried oregano
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 or 2 glugs Red Wine
2 cups fresh grated parmesan cheese (or thereabouts, I don't measure it exactly)
250 g fresh Ricotta cheese (about 1.5 cups)(you could easily use more in this recipe if you like more creaminess in your lasagna)
1 largish ball fresh Mozzerella cheese, sliced thin (you want like 8 to 10 slices)
1 small tomato, sliced into 6 slices
12 to 16 whole wheat Lasagna noodles, prepared to package directions (if not fresh - someday I will get myself a pasta roller and make my own).

First, brown the meat. Heat a 12-inch skillet over high heat. Add a wee bit of olive oil then add the meat and stir around. You want it to get brown and yummy - not to steam or boil - so it needs a big, hot pan so as not to crowd. Once it has gotten nice and browned/seared (not necessarily cooked all the way through) turn the heat down some and let it cook until its mostly done. Add a few glugs of wine and stir, scraping up all the tasty brown bits from the pan. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large saute pan or casserole (it needs high sides), heat a few tablespoons of Olive Oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions become translucent. Add the garlic and dried oregano and cook until all the veggies are just soft. Add the meat and stir to combine, then add the Marinara sauce and nutmeg and stir well.

Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for a good 20 or 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the fresh herbs and around 2/3 cup fresh grated parmesan and stir (if you substitute dried basil and parsley though, add it at the same time as the dried oregano). Taste and season with salt/pepper as needed.

Season your Ricotta with salt and a good amount of fresh ground black pepper. Preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C. Now assemble the lasagna in a large casserole dish (like 9x13 inches - can be smaller if the sides are higher).

First, put a small amount of the bolognese sauce in the bottom of the dish so that it is just covered, then place noodles over the top - break or trimming the noodles to fit the pan. Spread about 1/2 the ricotta over the noodles, then grate parmesan cheese over the ricotta. Add another layer of noodles, then a good amount (like most) of the sauce. Next, another layer of noodles, then ricotta. For me, this was the final layer - but continue making these layers until you have your last layer of ricotta and a small amount of marinara left over. I then spread my remaining amount of marinara over this top layer of ricotta, then placed the slices of Mozzerella over that. Then I arranged slices of tomato and the basil leaves over this. Grate and fair amount of parmesan over all of this, sprinkle with some olive oil, and cover with tin foil.

Bake, covered, for around 20 minutes - the cheese on top should all be melted and the sauce should be bubbly. Then remove the foil and cook uncovered for another 30 to 40 minutes more, until its all quite bubbly and the cheese is browning on top. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting.

This makes around 6-8 decent sized servings.

Rice Vermicelli with Grilled Shrimp (Bun Tom Xao)

I love the flavors of southeast Asia, and one of my very favorites of all is Vietnamese rice vermicelli dishes. My favorite one? Bun Tom Xao - noodles topped with delicious spicy fish sauce (Nuoc Cham), fresh raw veggies, grilled tiger prawns, and garnished with fresh basil, cilantro, fried onions and peanuts. Its so simple, so light, and I recently realized - SO easy to make at home! Most of it can be prepared in advance - so making it for company was a breeze. When people arrived, all we had to do was fire up the grill and enjoy the evening.

There are a few basic items that are essential to make Bun dishes (Bun is Vietnamese for rice vermicelli noodles) - fresh crisp bean sprouts, Nuoc Cham, fresh basil and cilantro, some spicy chili's and of course the delicious noodles. The rest seems to be slightly different everywhere I go - so I just made a version with all of my favorites and with one slightly non-Vietnamese addition - Peanut sauce. I happen to love spicy peanut sauce. So, instead of topping with chopped peanuts, I served with peanut sauce instead. This sauce keeps well in the fridge - so make plenty extra and use it in stir-fry, as a dipping sauce for meat, tofu or spring rolls, or even as a salad dressing.


Folks - this dish was simply amazing. The noodles absorb the flavor of the Nuoc Cham which is perfectly complimented by the smokey, spicy grilled shrimp and peanut sauce; with little bursts of flavor from chili peppers and herbs and crunch from the fried onions, bean sprouts and cucumbers it is just sublime. To me - its the perfect combination of flavors and texture and makes a wonderfully cool meal in the very hot summer.

While the title says grilled shrimp - I served both that and grilled tofu, both of which were marinated in the peanut sauce. This dish is easily made vegan when eaten with tofu - though you will have to leave out the Nuoc Cham (I couldn't not find a satisfactory substitution for fish sauce, though you could just make a spicy broth with peppers & garlic and get a similar effect). The tofu was absolutely delicious as well - the sauce carmelizes and blackens on the tofu which really absorbs the smokiness of the grill.

Really, you can do any kind of topping for these noodles - cut up spring rolls or any kind of meat or vegetable you like. I have had it with chicken, pork and beef - and while Shrimp or tofu is my favorite - they are all delicious. This is also really cheap. These amounts I have included will feed 5 people (heartily). Using items from your garden and pantry and an inexpensive topping - this meal is a lot of flavor without a lot of cash. Check your local Asian grocery for a lot of the items you might have trouble finding (I even recommend getting your herbs and bean sprouts there - I find they are usually better and less expensive than the typical grocery chains).


Rice Vermicelli with Grilled Shrimp & Spicy Peanut Sauce (Bun Tom Xao)
Thai basil
Cilantro
fresh crisp bean sprouts
3 sriracha d chili's, cored/seeded and minced
crispy fried onions
1 cucumber, diced or julienned
1 and 1/2 pkgs Bun noodles (rice vermicelli)
1 and 1/2 lbs large Tiger Shrimp, peeled and de-veined
AND/OR 1 large brick of extra firm tofu, sliced

Optional other additions that I didn't use this time but are quite good:
Hoisin Sauce (sooo good with this)
fresh mint
dry roasted peanuts, chopped
carrots, julienned
lettuce or cabbage

Directions:
First - make your sauces (recipes below).

Marinate shrimp (and/or tofu) in a few tablespoons of peanut sauce. Allow to sit in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Prepare the Noodles (can be done up to 2 hours in advance):
Bring a stock pot of water to boiling. Add the noodles and allow to boil for 3 to 5 minutes (I did mine for exactly 5 and they were perfect). Stir once or twice as they boil to break the noodles apart.

Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse in cold water until the noodles are cool and the water runs clear. Let the noodles drain in the colander for at least 30 minutes, or can leave them for up to 2 hours unrefrigerated. Before serving, run just a bit of warm water over the noodles so they aren't sticking together (I also like them to not be so cold. If you want them cool, rinse with cool water instead).

Grill the shrimp and/or tofu over moderate heat just until done. The shrimp will only take around 4 or 5 minutes (or even less). The tofu, slightly more.

Bring it all together:
Fill each bowl with noodles. Top with a handful of bean sprouts, fried onions, a pinch of the diced chili peppers, and cucumber. Tear the basil and cilantro into each bowl. Top with with the shrimp (or tofu).

Pass the Nuoc Cham at the table - each person should pour on about 3 or 4 tbs of the stuff. Pass the peanut sauce as well - which can be added to taste (along with Hoisin or Sriracha if you like).

Toss the noodles, toppings and sauces together a few times with chopsticks or fork, and enjoy!!


Spicy Peanut Sauce
1/3 cup all-natural (no corn syrup, not a bunch of added sugar) creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 cloves garlic, pressed (or minced and crushed)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbs Sambal-Oelek
1 or 2 tsp Sriracha Sauce

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir and heat until it has reach a smooth and creamy consistency. Serve immediately or keeps several weeks in the fridge. As it cools it will change consitency slightly, become thicker. If you like, heat in the microwave over medium heat or in a sauce pan on low before serving. Its also good cold straight out of the fridge :)

Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
1 clove garlic
1 or 2 tsp Sambal-Oelek
1/2 tsp Sriracha
2/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Fish sauce
2 tbs fresh lime juice

Combine Sambal-Oelek, Sriracha, water and sugar. Stir well - until sugar has dissolved. Add the fish sauce and lime juice and stir until combined. Make at least 15 minutes before serving - but the earlier the better, you can even make it days in advance (it will keep for up to a month). I just stir it all up in a jar and keep it in the fridge, then on the day I need I take it out and let it come to room temp before using (I don't like it to make the dish cold).