Carbon Dating

After a week of the world's worst cold I made a date with two of my besties, Chad and Ken, (Holla!) to enjoy a food extravaganza. The foodie destinations we visited have already been reviewed 80 million times (I've never said that I was cutting edge) so I was hoping our late showing would make for a more mellow experience since I can't stand crowds or lines or...people.

We brunched at The Breslin where I had the most amazing lamb burger with a side of thrice baked chips. Hello...you had me at thrice. (Oh, THAT'S why my jeans don't fit! Interesting.) We had some issues with the front of house but excused their general inadequacy after we ate.

Then we made our way over to Eataly. Yes, the original food and wine market is in Italy, but the way the lines formed around the block you'd think that Mario invented the place. Since I don't do lines, I took one look and got ready to run the other way. Fortunately I was with friends who aren't quite as fazed by such things. (Tip: If there's a line when you go, wait at the 23rd street entrance where it will be shorter. The Broadway entrance is bananas. Also, it only takes about 5 minutes to get in.) The place is pretty cool, though I can't imagine having an enjoyable meal there because it's loud and frenetic, not exactly the way I like to enjoy a glass of wine. I did manage to find some relative bargains hidden among the more upscale items. I bought some ground espresso for 6 bucks and a really nice bottle of olive oil for about 12. Plus the array of dried pasta is dizzying. At least now I know where to find those more unusual shapes.

A big motivating factor for our visit to Eataly was to pick up some guanciale, which is basically an unsmoked Italian bacon made from the jowls of the pig rather than the belly. It's a little harder to find than pancetta, so when we scored it we knew that carbonara was in our immediate future. This basic pasta is essentially a bacon, egg, and cheese (and pepper!) mixed into pasta rather than served fried on a roll. It's SO GOOD. There is some discrepancy about whether the name, carbonara, refers to a meal served to Italian coal workers (coal miner's spaghetti), or that it was originally made over charcoal grills, or that the abundance of black pepper simply resembles charcoal. Whatevs. It's delish. More importantly, I am suddenly realizing that this post is coinciding with the long awaited rescue of the trapped Chilean coal miners. Can you imagine being trapped underground for 69 days??? I certainly can not. And I can't believe their ability to keep it together and not go all Lord of the Flies on each other. They better get compensated for all of the book/screenplay/movie deals that most likely have been in the works for the past 52 days. That's it. Spaghetti alla Carbonara absolutely means Coal Miner's Spaghetti!



Spaghetti alla Carbonara

1 pound dry spaghetti
Salt
1/2 pound guanciale (or pancetta or good bacon)
1 cup Pecorino Romano, grated, plus more for serving
5 large egg yolks
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti, according to package directions until tender yet al dente.

2. Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, cook the guanciale until it is crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the cooked spaghetti and add to the bowl, along with the guanciale, reserved fat, grated cheese, and a very generous amount of black pepper and toss until fully incorporated. Add the reserved pasta water as needed to thin the sauce to the desired consistency. Season with more freshly ground black pepper, salt to taste, and grate additional cheese over the top. Serve immediately. Serves 4 generously.

Hot Tuna

Tonight is Fashion's Night Out and I can tell you one thing: No one involved is eating pasta. Except for me, I guess. I will actually be attending a few events so carbo-loaded in anticipation. Why? I don't know. I guess that explains why I don't fit into sample sizes. That and genetics. By the way, I'm dying for one of these:


Need to get to the Alexander McQueen store on 14th street before they're gone!!!

Since I've allowed my kitchen pantry stash to dwindle as a result of vacationing, beaching it, and general malaise, I've had to make do with some bare essentials. Canned tuna is something that I always have in my cabinet, and it's not just for sandwiches. The thought of hot tuna probably makes most people gag, with the exception of those who enjoy a good diner style tuna melt (mmm...hot tuna and cheese!) or good old fashion tuna fish casserole (mmm...creamy hot tuna!), but it is possible to make quite a tasty little dish with ye olde can of tuna. Garlic makes everything taste better and salt doesn't hurt either, so the addition of olives and capers helps to elevate an otherwise mundane pantry meal. A little protein, a few carbs...who's ready to shop?!?



Pantry Pasta

6 ounces spaghetti
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1 (5-ounce) can tuna (packed in water or oil), drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions. Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. When hot, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the olives, capers, tuna, and salt and pepper and cook, stirring to combine, to heat through, about 2 minutes.

2. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water, and add to the skillet with the tuna. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the lemon zest and toss. Add the reserved pasta water if necessary to keep pasta from sticking. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serves 2.

Who Are They Anyway?

You know how 'They' say that you shouldn't go grocery shopping on an empty stomach? Well, you shouldn't cook when you're hungry either. (Wait. What?) OK obviously you should cook when you're hungry, but just not famished. Like I was. Tonight.

When I got home from work tonight I was so hungry I had the shakes. It could have been that coffee I had with lunch (I don't really drink coffee...long story) coupled with the mere 500 calories I had all day (yeah, yeah...probably still more than LiLo consumes all week). Whatever it was, I wasn't going to be satisfied with a bowl of cereal.

Thankfully, I keep a messy stack of recipes that I print out because I intend to make them...eventually. Once again my favorite column Recipes for Health came to the rescue. I found a recipe for Puttanesca that I had printed out back in October. Yes, I'm sure that I have 8 other versions of this recipe in my cookbook collection, but sometimes I don't know what I want to make so if I've already pre-edited a stack of recipes, then great.

I don't normally cook pasta for myself but I like to keep it around, just in case. And since I was simultaneously hungry and worried about overeating, I used whole wheat pasta, because the extra grams of fiber cancel out calories, right? And yes, I actually had all of these ingredients in my apartment (or thought I did until I realized I was out of capers...whoops).



Here is my version of:
Martha Rose Shulman's Spaghetti With Tomatoes, Olives, (Capers), Hot Peppers and Anchovies

1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 anchovy fillets (to taste), soaked for 15 minutes in water to, then rinsed and chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
(2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed with cold water)
12 black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound spaghetti (I used a 13.25 ounce package of whole wheat spaghetti)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley (optional)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (optional)

1. Pulse the chopped tomatoes in a food processor fitted with a steel blade or pour the tomatoes and their juice into a medium bowl and use an immersion blender (like I did) to puree until almost smooth. (I think you can skip this step if you don't have the tools and the sauce will still be great.)

2. Heat the oil and anchovies together over medium heat in a large wide non-stick skillet or saucepan. When the anchovies begin to sizzle, stir and crush with the back of a wooden spoon until they fall apart and dissolve into the oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds to a minute, until the garlic is translucent and begins to smell fragrant, and add the tomatoes and their juice, salt, and oregano. Stir and turn up the heat. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, add the capers and olives, lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until thick and fragrant, 15 to 25 minutes. (I used a lid to partially cover the sauce to control the splattering.) Taste, add freshly ground pepper and salt.

3. Once the sauce is cooking, heat a large pot of water for the pasta. When the water comes to a boil, add a tablespoon of salt and the spaghetti. Cook the past until al dente, about one minute less than the instructions on the packaging. When the spaghetti is done, drain and transfer to the pan with the sauce with the parsley if using, and toss together until it is well coated with sauce. Serve with the cheese as desired.


(I don't advise taking food photos when it is dark and rainy :)