Back on a foodie kick
Dear Internet,
Since yesterday sucked--and it sucked because it sucked, not because I was busy accomplishing nothing for 10 hours--I had to vent and the way I release stress is by Stress Cooking. More on that in a second.
First, you simply must know about this website, just the very thing for hip, semi-urban foodies. Yes, it's very NYC-centric, but still, click here: http://www.gothamist.com/archives/food/eating_in/index.php
Okay, having gotten that out of the way, here is what we had for dinner last night, just the three of us, since TFBIM was at yet another of the meetings at which she is indispensable.
Mind you, this sort of thing has become more routine since we got this gizmo for my KitchenAid mixer:
With it I've been able to not worry about my lack of that third, Zaphod Beeblebrox -like arm. I just crank Ye Olde Kitchen-Aide and I goeth.
Anyway, here's the grand recipe, ideal for an early fall.
Fettuccine* Amatriciana
The Pasta Part:
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur's Pasta Blend)
4 extra-large eggs (I use free-range organic eggs)
1 Tablespoon of EVOO (optional)
½ teaspoon sea salt (fine crystal size, for regular salt use ¼ tsp.)
Mound the flour in the center of your KitchenAid mixer's bowl (if you have one, otherwise use a food processor or, for that grandma-in-a-hill-town-outside-Bologna touch, a large wood cutting board). Add your eggs (if doing this on a board, make a dent in the middle of the flour and use a fork) and using the "paddle" mix together the eggs. (You manualists start to mix the flour from the inner rim of the well. The trick is not to break the "levee" of flour.) The pasta dough will start to take form around the time half the flour has been mixed in.
Start kneading the dough (luddites, use the palms of your hands). Add more flour, ½ cup at a time, if the dough seems too damp and sticky. The moment the dough sticks to itself but nothing else, stop adding flour and keep on kneading for another 3 minutes. (technophobes, you may need to add a dusting of flour here and there...do not panic) Pasta dough should be elastic and "tacky" but not all sticky. Continue to knead for 3 minutes more. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap
and set aside for 20 minutes at room temperature. Flatten and run through the roller 
(real primitive-types use a rolling pin) 
and then run through the cutting attachment. Shake and rattle the fettuccine as you mound them, so they don't stick to themselves, since the cut edges are moister and stickier. Let dry as you prepare the sauce.
The Sauce Part:
¼ lb guanciale (pork jowls cured like prosciutto), diced, or you could use pancetta (naturale or affumicata) but I use the latter which is really nothing more than really great bacon. I prefer Nueske's (waves to Poppy) applewood-smoked, which is the least smoky. Avoid any maple stuff.
4 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion, diced
¼-½ teaspoons red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper to taste
14 oz. crushed tomatoes, I like the Italian brand Pomi.
In a large-ish skillet (this will need to hold all the sauce AND the pasta) or saucepan, put the bacon/pancetta/guanciale over medium heat and cook over medium heat until crisp. Add the red pepper, stir for just a second or two, then the onion, THEN the garlic. When the onion has reached the nirvana-like state of translucence, add the tomatoes and increase the heat to medium high. Cook to reduce by about 20%-25%, or just enough to cook out the watery nature of the tomatoes. Set aside.
The Home Stretch:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a good 2 tablespoons of salt and then toss in the pasta. Fresh pasta will take NO TIME TO COOK. The nanosecond the pasta floats aggresively (i.e. all the fettuccine fight each other for surface time), drain--reserve some pasta water--and toss in the sauce. Coat the pasta well and if it looks dry, add a ladleful of pasta water. Serve immediately (fresh pasta waits for nobody) into warmed bowls. Grate fresh pecorino (romano is the most popular, but I marginally prefer toscano).
It looks like this:
http://www2.worldpub.net/images/18_125_40006323.jpg
Serve with a large glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.
-J.
* Yes, it's s'posed to be bucatini...sue me
Since yesterday sucked--and it sucked because it sucked, not because I was busy accomplishing nothing for 10 hours--I had to vent and the way I release stress is by Stress Cooking. More on that in a second.
First, you simply must know about this website, just the very thing for hip, semi-urban foodies. Yes, it's very NYC-centric, but still, click here: http://www.gothamist.com/archives/food/eating_in/index.php
Okay, having gotten that out of the way, here is what we had for dinner last night, just the three of us, since TFBIM was at yet another of the meetings at which she is indispensable.
Mind you, this sort of thing has become more routine since we got this gizmo for my KitchenAid mixer:
With it I've been able to not worry about my lack of that third, Zaphod Beeblebrox -like arm. I just crank Ye Olde Kitchen-Aide and I goeth.
Anyway, here's the grand recipe, ideal for an early fall.
Fettuccine* Amatriciana
The Pasta Part:
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur's Pasta Blend)
4 extra-large eggs (I use free-range organic eggs)
1 Tablespoon of EVOO (optional)
½ teaspoon sea salt (fine crystal size, for regular salt use ¼ tsp.)
Mound the flour in the center of your KitchenAid mixer's bowl (if you have one, otherwise use a food processor or, for that grandma-in-a-hill-town-outside-Bologna touch, a large wood cutting board). Add your eggs (if doing this on a board, make a dent in the middle of the flour and use a fork) and using the "paddle" mix together the eggs. (You manualists start to mix the flour from the inner rim of the well. The trick is not to break the "levee" of flour.) The pasta dough will start to take form around the time half the flour has been mixed in.
Start kneading the dough (luddites, use the palms of your hands). Add more flour, ½ cup at a time, if the dough seems too damp and sticky. The moment the dough sticks to itself but nothing else, stop adding flour and keep on kneading for another 3 minutes. (technophobes, you may need to add a dusting of flour here and there...do not panic) Pasta dough should be elastic and "tacky" but not all sticky. Continue to knead for 3 minutes more. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap
and set aside for 20 minutes at room temperature. Flatten and run through the roller 
(real primitive-types use a rolling pin) 
and then run through the cutting attachment. Shake and rattle the fettuccine as you mound them, so they don't stick to themselves, since the cut edges are moister and stickier. Let dry as you prepare the sauce.The Sauce Part:
¼ lb guanciale (pork jowls cured like prosciutto), diced, or you could use pancetta (naturale or affumicata) but I use the latter which is really nothing more than really great bacon. I prefer Nueske's (waves to Poppy) applewood-smoked, which is the least smoky. Avoid any maple stuff.
4 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion, diced
¼-½ teaspoons red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper to taste
14 oz. crushed tomatoes, I like the Italian brand Pomi.
In a large-ish skillet (this will need to hold all the sauce AND the pasta) or saucepan, put the bacon/pancetta/guanciale over medium heat and cook over medium heat until crisp. Add the red pepper, stir for just a second or two, then the onion, THEN the garlic. When the onion has reached the nirvana-like state of translucence, add the tomatoes and increase the heat to medium high. Cook to reduce by about 20%-25%, or just enough to cook out the watery nature of the tomatoes. Set aside.
The Home Stretch:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a good 2 tablespoons of salt and then toss in the pasta. Fresh pasta will take NO TIME TO COOK. The nanosecond the pasta floats aggresively (i.e. all the fettuccine fight each other for surface time), drain--reserve some pasta water--and toss in the sauce. Coat the pasta well and if it looks dry, add a ladleful of pasta water. Serve immediately (fresh pasta waits for nobody) into warmed bowls. Grate fresh pecorino (romano is the most popular, but I marginally prefer toscano).
It looks like this:
http://www2.worldpub.net/images/18_125_40006323.jpg
Serve with a large glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.
-J.
* Yes, it's s'posed to be bucatini...sue me
Comments
SL,
I keep up with all these blogs and all that by enjoying the blessings of insomnia. And now I have that Ziggy Marley tune stuck in my head. Thanks.
Today's verification: okmrscub
I wish I could take credit for it, but it came with the mixer. Seriously, get the pasta attachment.
-J., pasta ho
I do have the food grinder attachment, though. Because I like to pulverize stuff.
However, I don't, and that stuff in the refrigerator case tastes like Wheat Flavored Bubble Tape to me. In contrast, the piddly effort of cracking 4 eggs and measuring flour and flicking a switch is practically a nap, to say nothing of way mo' faster.
Mind you, I realize most people won't see it the way I do, and since we live in a pluralist society, that's fine. Last night I made a huge-ass batch of fresh pasta and froze the rest. Which something I do a lot of...make huge-ass batches of things and save the rest in the freezer.
Because I am OCDingly foodie-ish.
-J.