Soba Noodle Salad with Citrus and Ginger

Well friends, I’ve finally done it. Done that simple thing that nearly all the adults in the world can do, that, well,  most teenagers can do. That thing that I have been avoiding like the plague for over a decade. I learnt to drive.

I spent the money, took the classes, practiced in our manual car, nearly broke up my pending nuptuals, but in some small miracle, I learnt how to drive.  I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself.

Jordan however decided to celebrating by getting  a vicious flu. The kind that makes his workaholic self completely stop. He has probably slept for 20 of the last 24 hours.   I on the other hand, am currently spending most of my days mind-over-matter-ing it, in an attempt not to get what he’s getting. And to aid in my attempt to refuse to allow bacteria into my body, I’m also eating kind of insane amounts of vitamin C.

Not just vitamin C though, the internet has led me to believe that I need not only citrus in IV form, but also garlic, ginger, and spicy food. So here is the garlick-iest, ginger-iest, spiciest, and citrus-y salad you’ll ever need. It’s all the immune boosters in one so that we all don’t end up curled up in a ball watching terrible TV.  I for one like to be in fine form when I watch bad TV.

Citrus and Ginger Soba Noodle Salad

2 bundles of Soba Noodles

Juice of 1 Lime

2 Oranges, segmented.

4 Radishes, thinly sliced.

2 stalks Celery, sliced on a bias.

1 clove of Garlic, minced

1.5 inches of Ginger, grated finely

2 tbsp Siracha, or other chili sauce

¼ cup Sesame Oil

3 tbsp Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Sesame Seeds (black or white)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season liberally with salt.

Cook soba noodles according to package instructions, or until al dente.

Strain, and immediately pout cold water over top and woosh it around with your hands or a spoon to cool it all down. Set aside.

Meanwhile, take your minced garlic put it near the edge of your cutting board. Sprinkle a small mount of salt on top. With the side of your knife, crush the garlic until it is pureed. Put it in a large bowl.

Add in the ginger, lime juice, soy sauce, and chili sauce.

Whisk to combine, then slowly add in the sesame oil. Taste, and add more citrus, oil, or soy as needed.

Add in all the remaining ingredients. Toss to fully combine and serve immediately, or cover and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.

xo

Spaghetti Carbonara with Poached Eggs

I mentioned this in my last post, and I feel a bit weird about announcing it over the internet, but here goes: Over the holidays Jordan proposed, and I said yes. It has been a magnificent couple of weeks, full of celebrating with friends and family. Jordan told me that the wedding is off if I go on a “wedding diet” and I assured him that it wouldn’t happen, because it can’t happen. Because everywhere I turn these days someone is pouring me a glass of bubbly, and then refilling it, and then refilling it again. Let me tell you friends, it is hard to stay sober when you’re recently engaged.

So this post is against all the new years resolutions, and against the very principle of a wedding diet, because it is hang-over food.

Spaghetti Carbonara, or “bacon and egg bascetti” as I used to call it when I was wee, it basically just that- bacon, eggs, parmesan, and loads of black pepper. You don’t need to cook the sauce, it cooks as the it’s tossed with the hot pasta. You can easily make this without the poached egg of course, but there is something about adding that makes the pasta feel like breakfast. Which is sometimes just the ticket.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Poached Eggs

1 lb Spaghetti

7 Eggs (use good quality free range organic ones, it really will make a difference)

400g Bacon (good smoky stuff please!)

200g Parmesano Reggiano, or Grana Padano

Salt and Pepper

Cut the bacon into ½ inch pieces and cook them in a small frying pan over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until they are crunchy, but not burning.

Strain the fat off into a jar of can. Put the bacon aside.

Fill a large and a medium sized pot with water and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile grate the parmesan and mix it in a large bowl with 3 of the eggs and healthy cracking of black pepper.

When the large pot of water comes to a boil, season it liberally with salt and cook the pasta to the directions on the package.

Just as the pasta is done and you’re about to strain it, crack the eggs into the remaining medium sized pot.

Strain the pasta and add it, and the bacon to the egg and parm mixture. Stir vigorously until it has completely combined, making sure it doesn’t curdle.

Divide among 4 bowls.

Using a slotted spoon remove the eggs from the water- testing to make sure they are done by gently poking at the yolk and white with your finger, ensuring that the white is hard but the yolk is soft.

Put the eggs on top of the pasta and enjoy immediately!

Tuesday Tutorials- Polenta!

Let’s talk about polenta.

I love polenta. I love it a lot.

It is, for me, the ultimate comfort food. It’s smooth and creamy and, perhaps most importantly is super cheap. I pretty well lived off of polenta for a couple years. Breakfast? Put an egg on it. Lunch? Some tomato sauce. Dinner? My favourite is with sautéed mushrooms and onions. You can serve it with steak, or Bolognese sauce, or darn near anything.

But when I was young and ever so broke, mostly I ate it with straight up tomato sauce. When I was feeling rich I would buy some parm and add some in, but most days it wasn’t so fancy. I could make a big batch and feed myself for a few meals for under $3.00. Mega cheap.

And, even in my intense poverty, it was a deeply satisfying meal. It takes only a few minutes to make and it is rich and as comforting as any dish could be.

And it is almost ridiculously easy to make. It is a no fuss sort of a dish. You simply bring some liquid to a boil (stock, milk, or a combination of both) whisk in the polenta and let it simmer for half and hour or so.  That’s it.  Unless you’re trying to keep your costing at a minimum, you should add in cheese and a little nub of butter for a bit of flavour.

Once it’s cooked it becomes a creamy porridge, but your left over’s will harden up in the fridge and become something that you can bake or fry and give it some crispy texture. But I like it best hot out of the pot, eaten with a spoon, feeling like a kid again.

Polenta.

Serves 4

3 cups Chicken Stock, or water

2 cups Milk

1 cup Polenta

½ cup Parmesano Reggiono, or Granda Padana (optional)

2 tbsp Butter (optional)

In a medium pot over medium heat bring a pinch of salt, the stock/water and the milk up to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium low.

Pour the polenta into a fine sieve and shake it over the pot whisking the whole time- this will prevent lumps from forming.

Keep whisking until the polenta starts to thicken, about 2 minutes.

Switch from a whisk to a spatula or wooden spoon and stir on occasion for 25-35 more minutes, adding a bit of water if it starts to look too thick.

Add in the cheese and butter and stir until it is totally incorporated. Check for seasoning and add more salt if you need it. 

Orecchiette with Yoghurt, Spinach, Hazelnuts and Feta

Sometimes I just get stuck on a recipe. I’ll see it in a book and think, that’s weird/different/crazy/maybe delicious but I’m not sure yet, and I won’t make it for fear that what ever is weird/different/crazy/or maybe delicious will actually be awful and I’ll have wasted time and money on something I’m going to end up pushing to the back of my fridge so I can’t pretend I forgot about it until it’s too old and I have to throw it out.

I do this a fair bit. Because usually when I think something is weird and might not turn out, it doesn’t. And there are few things more frustrating than making something you think might not work, and then having it not work for just the reason you thought before you started. I’m learning to trust my gut on this.

The exception to this rule is Ottolenghi. Because he puts some things together and I think “I’m not sure about this” and then it’s always amazing.

And so with this proven track record of exceeding my expectations, I made pasta with a yoghurt based sauce.

I have been staring at this recipe since I bought the Jerusalem cookbook over a year ago.  My love affar with yoghurt is logn and well documented, but on pasta? I’m a little bit Italian and that seems pretty sacreligious to me.

Guys. I should not use my head, and instead to use Ottolenghis. I shouldn’t pretend I know better.

I don’t.

This pasta is wonderful. It’s light and creamy and tangy- the way you would expect from the yoghurt, but it’s also crunchy from the nuts, and super salty in certain bites from the feta.

I had to make a few changes to the recipe- I switched the pine nuts from the original to hazelnuts, because I had them kicking around, and inexplicably my local shop was out of frozen peas (seriously, who runs out of frozen peas?) so I used spinach instead.

The result was a pasta that was totally unexpected, and one that you should probably make right away. Seriously. Do it now.

Orrecciette with Yoghurt, Spinach and Hazelnuts

1lb Orecciette

2 cups Greek Yoghurt

4 cups Baby Spinach

¼ cup Basil, roughly torn

½ cup Toasted Hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

½ cup Feta, crumbled

2 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously.

Cook pasta to directions on box.

Meanwhile, in a food processor pulse the yoghurt with 2 cups of spinach, the olive oil and some salt.  Mix until smooth.

Pasta is cooked, strain. Immediately mix together with the yoghurt mixture, and then toss in the basil, hazelnuts and feta.

Eat immediately. 

Pasta with Wild Leeks, Mushrooms and Arugula

A few weeks ago I was back in Toronto visiting my Mom. We visited my best friends cottage, we spent an absorbanant amount of money on Quebec cheese, and we walked around the city. It was a wonderful trip, and a much needed bought of relaxation.

An old friend of mine, Andrew, came over and we made dinner and hung out with my mom and her boyfriend, John. When we left the house to go grab a drink down the street we both turned to each other and said, almost at the exact same time “I hope I’m that when I’m a real grown up”.

Don’t get me wrong, they have their hardships like everyone else, obviously, but there is something wonderful about the way they live. My mom walks to work everyday, John plugs away at his PhD in the study, (as one of her friends put it to me “leave it to your mother to find a 60 year old student!) they live in this beautiful house, and eat gorgeous food. They seem to live really great lives.

My mom is also a fabulous cook, so when I visit most of our time is either spent in her wonderful neighbourhood shopping for ingredients or in the kitchen. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

My mom cooks tons of vegetables. Tons. It’s one of the most wonderful things about the way she cooks actually. She is teeny tiny, and eats lots of cheese and pasta and delicious things, but she also eats more veggies that probably anyone else I know. There is always a salad with dinner, but beyond that, she just puts more vegetables in everything. Almost anything cooked gets a bag of arugula, or spinach, or pea shoots wilted into it.

This is a great example of that for me. Just a simple pasta of sauteed ramps, and mushrooms, with a handful of parm and a sprinkling of parsley, thyme and basil. And then a huge bag of arugula wilted into it. Don’t get me wrong, I wilt greens into my pastas all the time, but she just adds so much more than I normally would. And it results in something wonderful, something sharp and bit bitter, but mostly just more flavourful.

1 box Pasta

1 bunch Ramps, or Wild Leeks, or Traditional leeks, cleaned and sliced on a bias

2 cloves Garlic, minced

3 cups Cremini Mushrooms, sliced thinly

1/2 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan, or Grano Padano

8 cups Baby Arugula

1/4 cup Parsley, chopped

3 tbsp Basil, chopped

2 tbsp Thyme, chopped.

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously and cook the pasta to the directions on the box. Strain.

Meanwhile, on medium high heat warm up a good glug of olive oil.

Sautee the leaks for about 3 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and cook until starting to caramelize, about another 5 minutes.

Clear a small spot in the middle of the pan and add in another splash of olive oil.

Cook garlic for about a minute until it is fragrant but not browning.

Mix in the leeks and the mushrooms.

Add in the pasta, herbs, and cheese and then toss in the arugula so that it starts to wilt but isn’t soggy. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately.  

Tuesday Tutorial- Pasta Dough!

I love pasta. I used to think I would be happy eating pasta every day. It is my ultimate comfort food. When I’m sick I want pasta, when it’s cold I want pasta, when I’m celebrating I want pasta, when it’s hot out I want pasta. I love pasta.

Then I worked at a high end Italian restaurant here in town, that shall remain nameless, where we had pasta every day for staff meal. It was always spaghetti with whatever we had kicking around left over. Except that there was never anything left over, so it was always spaghetti with butter and parm. We also had a salad of leftovers alongside it, except there was never any leftovers, so he ordered in iceberg lettuce for us. It was a sad sad meal, and everyone who worked there was significantly plumper when they left than when they had arrived.

It was a restaurant full of flaws, full of some extraodinarily cruel people, and full of beautiful food for the guests, and iceberg lettuce for the staff. I felt really crappy about myself when I worked there. And for quite a while I stopped eating pasta. I had just gotten my fill.

Slowly though, it came back, and it ought to. I’m a tiny bit Italian and it manifested itself into my diet when I was very small and it never left. I love, passionately, food that uncomplicated, unfussy, that used very few ingredients, but uses the best ones possibly, to make simple beautiful food. That’s what Italian food is all about.

Which brings us back to pasta. Pasta for me is the epitimy of simple food. The combination of essentially just flour, salt and eggs makes the most gorgeous textured noodle that, at it’s best, is just graced with a sauce made of only a very few things. It is simplicity done right.

Making pasta is not complicated, it just takes a bit of patience. You don’t need any fussy equipment, you can easily do it by hand, in fact it’s very satisfying to do it that way. But in a pinch you can do it in a kitchenaid, although the dough is a bit tough and I wouldn’t recommend doing it regularly in your mixer. Apparently old ladies in Italy roll theres out by hand too, but I’m not that skilled so I have a pasta roller, a little handhelp device that costs about $30.00. It’s not a huge expense, and it’s not very large either, so it’s not too hard to store. This batch makes quite a bit, I like to dry out about half of it for later, but you could of course,

Pasta Dough

Adapted from the French Laundry Cookbook

7 Egg Yolks

1 3/4 cup (8 oz) AP Flour

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Milk

1 tbsp Salt

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Create a well in the centre of it and add in the yolks, oil and milk. Mix together until it combines. Now put the dough onto a clean surface and knead it- push the dough out flat, fold it over and push it again with the base of your hand, pushing and folding over and over again. When the dough is ready you will be able to do the window test- Pull a small piece of dough and gently stretch it with your fingertips. If it is ready you will be able to get the dough to become so thin it is slightly translucent. If not and the dough rips, keep kneading. If you doubt at all whether or not it is done, keep kneading.

When it is done, wrap it up in plastic wrap and let it cool rest for at least half an hour, or up to overnight.

Once it’s rested set up your pasta roller. Cut the dough into quarters and cover the others carefully. On a very well floured surface roll out the dough by hand with a rolling pin to about 1/2 cm thick.

On the pasta machine on the thickest setting roll out the dough.

Now on the second thickest roll out the dough again. Keep going until the pasta machine is on setting number 3.

Flour the dough again and fold it into thirds and cut into strips for linguine. Either coat them heavily with more flour and wrap them up to use within a couple days or while they are still soft hang them up. I used my towel rack, but you can also hang them up (clean) hangers and dry them that way.  

Tuesday Tutorials- Gnocchi

I wish that I had a cuter story about gnocchi. I wish my Nona had taught me to rice the potatoes, that she had shown me just how much flour you need to bring the dough together. I wish, to be honest, I could even remember her gnocchi, but I don’t. Although I’ve heard my mom and cousin talking about how incredible they were, the only time I remember her serving us gnocchi I also remember her apologizing for not making them from scratch.

But such is memory I guess, flawed.

So instead I learnt how to make gnocchi from reading the French Laundry Cookbook, where Thomas Keller goes to great length to explain how to make them. There are many ways to make gnocchi, and many debates on how to do it best, should you use starchy russets potatoes, or waxier Yukon golds? Should there be cheese added, or just on the top? If you use another starch, a squash, or a sweet potato, is it still gnocchi?

Over the years since I first forayed into the world of homemade pastas I have tried just about every possible method and every possible ingredient, and this is the recipe I always come back to. I use Yukon golds- waxier, so that you get more control over the starch content, no cheese in the gnocchi, it’s an unnescessary flavour, and it detracts from what is darn close to perfection to begin with. And you can call it a squash gnocchi, or a sweet potatoe gnocchi, but again- if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Gnocchi are surprisingly simple to make, you roast the potatoes, push them through a potato ricer or through a seive, to get very fluffy potatoes, and then you add in a few eggs and a touch of flour and knead it together until it barely forms, and then roll it, cut it, and boil it. It’s also wonderful because it freezes brilliantly, so if you make a bigger batch you can keep some for later.

While it is simple, and just about anyone can do it, I should note that it takes a quick hand, and the first time you do it you should stick to a small batch and just practise the technique. Gluten, the protein in wheat, forms at 55C and you want the dough to come together before it cools down past that temperature, so you must work quickly and keep a cloth over your dough as you go. And always have a pot of water boiling so you can test the little pastas, and make sure the consistently is just right.

,

Gnocchi

Adapted from Thomas Kellers The French Laundry Cookbook

2lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes

1- 13/4cups AP Flour plus lots more for rolling 

3 Egg Yolks

2 tbsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 450F

Poke some small holes in the potatoes with a fork on every side, and then lay them on a baking sheet and bake until an inserted knife goes in and out without any resistance, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil.

As soon as the potatoes have cooled just enough to touch, put a towel over the rest of the potatoes, take one and cut it in half. Without peeling it, put it flesh side down in the ricer and press it in until no more potato comes out. Repeat with the rest. If you don’t have a potato ricer you can take a sieve and press it the potatoes through with the back of a large spoon, this is a bit more time consuming, but totally effective- I have done it many times.

When the potatoes are all riced make a well in the middle of the bowl.

Add in the eggs and a bit of the flour, and the salt. Mix until it has barely come together. If the dough is sticking to your hangs you need some more flour.

Again add in a bit more and check again, making sure your hands are clean.

One the dough is supple, but not sticky your in business.

Take about a cup of the dough out. Put a tea towel over the rest.

Flour the surface of your counter generously and roll out the reserved dough. I roll mine with both hands, and when it starts to feel a bit too long, I just cut it in half and do each hald seperately, the dough will break if you are too rough with it.

With a pastry cutter or a knife cut the dough ito small logs. You can at this point roll them to get ridges on a gnocchi board or the back of a fork but I find this to be not too important. Now put them on a ery well floured tray and shake the tray a bit so that each piece is totally covered in flour. They will stick together if you are not diligent about thi.

Now put a couple in your boiling water to test. If you haven’t added enough flour they may break apart. If they do just mix in another small handful. If they don’t keep going!

Repeat with the rest of the dough until you have lots of lovely little gnocchis all ready to go.

If you are planning on freezing some/all your gnocchi put them in the freezer as they are on the tray covered in flour. After a couple hours take them apart and put them in a freezer bag and put them back.

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. If you are using frozen gnocchi use the biggest pot you have and do it in batches, otherwise they will bring down the water temperature too much and won’t cook properly.

Salt the water generously and put your gnocchi in!

When they rise to the top they are ready to be put in your favourite sauce and eaten with abandon.

Here I have sauteed some garlic and shallots in some olive oil, added in some pancetta, and topped it off with toasted pine nuts. The simplest and most delicious dinner!

Orichiette with Swiss Chard and Pine Nuts

For the wonderful people over at Edible Vancouver I did a little writing about swiss chard, pasta, and my over embellished Italian roots. Check it out here if your so inclined!

Barley Risotto

After much too long without a kitchen I can cook again. I can make tea in the morning, make soup for lunch and cook a proper dinner (I don’t, for the record, do this every day but now my kitchen is there, if I feel compelled to)

Which is especially nice right now because we’re getting that first bout of bone chilling weather here in Van, and I do not want to be leaving my house for food. I want to hibernate. I want to drink hot chocolate, and apple cider, and read books and swaddle myself in knitted blankets. That’s what I want. What I also want it barley risotto.

Risotto that warms you up form the inside out on a cold night but is healthy enough that I don’t feel to guilty about eating a cookie for breakfast the next day. Risotto that’s rich and soothing and is delicious with both grilled sausages and with sauteed salmon. Risotto that is good heated up the next day because it’s not made of rice that gets soggy. Risotto that has that nuttiness and bit of chew that characterized whole grains. Risotto that is just plain really good.

2 cups pearled barley

1/2 head of fennel, diced

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

a sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

3 sprigs of thyme, finely chopped

2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

1/3 cup grated parm

Bring the stock up to a boil with 2 cups of water.

Add a pinch of salt and then add in the barley and cook them to their package instructions, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile in a medium pan on medium-low heat warm up a good glug of olive oil. Add in your onions and fennel and saute until they become translucent and very fragrant.

Add in your garlic and the herbs and cook just until you can start to smell the garlic but not so that it gets any colour.

Add in the barley, the cheese and the knob of butter and stir to combine it all and check your seasoning.

And then eat this wonderful mix by itself, or serve it as a side!

Carbonara

They say that scent is the sense most linked to memory and I think, despite not knowing who they are, that they’re right. I think about it occasionally, if a man walks by wearing Jordan’s old cologne and I get a flash in my head of his old apartment, or the way freshly cut rhubarb makes me think of my mom making pie, but never is it more obvious to me then when I smell bacon.

Bacon, which I have eaten literally hundreds of times in at least dozens of ways.

But every time I smell bacon cooking all I can think of is a pale pale yellow bowl with thin red and blue stripes around the top of the inside. I can see it vividly, sitting on top of the glass tabletop from my childhood backyard, with our neighbours overgrown shrubs turning into trees in the background. I can feel the warmth of the hot Toronto summers, but mostly what I see is the Spaghetti carbonara inside that striped bowl, and what I smell is bacon.

It was the ultimate summer meal, it took minutes to throw together, cook bacon, cook pasta, toss with eggs and pepper and parmesan, put on table. The speed of it was important not only because my Mom was a busy woman, but also so the burners wouldn’t be on and heat up the house.

For me, this pasta is the epitome of simple Italian food, and I am a snob about it. I adamantly don’t believe that there should be anything in it besides pasta, eggs, parm, pepper, bacon and salt. I don’t like cream in mine, i think it should be creamy enough as is. The crucial thing is that everything be of great quality. Using DeMecca pasta will not give you good carbonara. Using a brand, made in Italy, that has 100%duram semolina flour is important. (I have found, although I’m sure there are lots of exceptions to this rule, that the pasta in boxes is often of a lesser quality then the kind in a bag with the label stapled to the top.)

Good eggs are also crucial, and maybe most important is the parm. Try to get grana padano, or real parmesanno reggiano.

And also, don’t skip on the pepper. The name Carbonara means black, like coals, and though I don’t like quite that much pepper in mine it should have a fair bit.

Spaghetti Carbonara

10 thick slices of the best bacon you can get. Pancetta is a lovely subsistute as well.

2 Free Range Organic Eggs

3/4 cup Grated Parmesano Reggiono, or Grana Padano

1 package Very good Quality Spaghetti, or Spaghettini

Salt and Pepper

Cut the bacon into thick pieces.

Fry them on medium heat until wonderful and crispy, but with a little chew to them still.

Strain and set aside.

Get a big pot of water on high heat.

Meanwhile mix your eggs, parm and a healthy cracking of pepper.

I was a little crazy this time and added a bit of parsley. You could do that too if you wanted.

Now put that strange eggy sauce in the bottom of a large bowl.

Now, perhaps you have a good stove and your water is boiling already. In that case, throw your pasta in, give it a good stir and cook it depending on the package instructions, but basically if until it is cooked throw with a bit of bite to it yet. If you don’t have a good stove, throw on some Aretha and dance around a bit, and then add your pasta, stir it a bit and cook it by the package instructions. Whatever works for you.

Once it’s cooked strain it and then quickly put it into that big bowl with the sauce in the bottom and give it a good toss. You want to move quickly now.  If you take to long the eggs with curdle, but if you move just fast enough you’ll have a wonderful silky sauce that wraps around each noodle. And it will be glorious.