Tag Archives: pasta

How to Pretend to be Tamar Adler (Part II)

Posted on by

cauliflower pastaAnd so the saga continued. And this time, I was determined to step it up a notch.

Attempt 3: A Cabbage with a College Education
What’s not to love about a vegetable that looks like a brain? So I decided to cook up some cauliflower, Tamar-style. She’s an advocate for boiling vegetables rather than steaming them (crisper is not always better), so I sawed up about half a head and dropped it in a pot of salty boiling water. And since I hadn’t done so well at thinking ahead up to this point, I also put the rest of the cauliflower (with some whole cloves of garlic) and some sweet potatoes in a 425 degree oven to roast.

When the boiling cauliflower was nice and tender, I ladled it out with a slotted spoon, and then used the same pot of water to cook some penne pasta. Then I mashed up the cauliflower with a generous handful of Parmesan cheese, some freshly ground pepper and the roasted garlic from the oven.  I added some of the starchy pasta water to turn to all into a sauce right before I drained the pasta. I don’t like to brag, but I think I got some extra points for tapping into Tamar’s fresh herb enthusiasm and topping it all with a bunch of fresh dill before serving.

The results were pretty good, simple but tasty. The components of the sauce did not combine quite as smoothly as I wanted them to, but no one can really complain about a big clump of melted cheese.
Tamar Score: 7

Attempt 4: It’s Not Over ‘Til the Skinny Yam Sings Continue reading →

Food for the End-of-Weekend Blues

Posted on by

wagon wheels!Weekends are supposed to be relaxing, so the rumor goes. But come Sunday night, after the hiking, carousing, drinking, sunbathing, running, picnicking, sweating and entertaining with which many of us fill our summer weekends (several times over on long weekends), I don’t think it’s unusual to feel exhausted. That is how I found myself at my local Mr. Melon store on Sunday afternoon, staring into space and trailing zombie-like through the aisles, loath to cook anything, but feeling sharp pains in my stomach and wallet at the thought of eating takeout food one more time.

I had walked in with a vague plan of making a pasta dish that I like, but the asparagus was looking limp, the only walnuts I could find were in enormous tubs and neither Jason nor I could remember if there was any pesto left in the freezer. So I gave up on that one. I think, really, the only thing to do when you find yourself in this situation is to grab the items that kindle a tiny joy in your tired heart, which is how I ended up walking to the register with 1) Brussels sprouts and 2) rotelle pasta (or if you prefer—and believe me, I prefer—wagon wheels). Seriously, try to find a more cheerful pasta shape. That’s right. You can’t.

I am certain that you, dear reader, are just as capable of this sort of improvisation as I am, but I’ll post the recipe I came up with, just in case it comes in handy some muggy Sunday evening. The veggies make it fresh and light enough for summer, but the bleu cheese gives it a creamy decadence that will send you into a deep end-of-weekend slumber.

Bleu Wagon Wheels Continue reading →

Name that Noodle

Posted on by

I still have pasta on the brain after last week’s post about Caputo’s. With over 400 shapes of pasta floating around out there, are you worthy enough to be a pasta insider? Prove yourself with this little puzzle. If you can name all the unusual shapes of pasta pictured below, you can share my marinara any time. Extra points if you can say what each name means in Italian! Hint: The answers appear in alphabetical order.

Don’t click this until you’re ready for the answers…

Continue reading →

The Secret to Fresh Pasta

Posted on by
pasta

A recent haul from Caputo's

There are many reasons I like Roger. We often agree about books and movies and music. He was once the state Monopoly champion of Rhode Island. He knows all the best puppy videos on YouTube, and though he is my boss, often shows them to me while I’m on the clock. But I think that the reason I like him most of all is that he is the one who told me about Caputo’s.

The topic came up because we were talking about making pasta. Roger, a bit of a foodie, makes his own noodles from time to time, and though they are tasty, it’s a time-consuming enterprise. “Really,” he said, “for four bucks, why wouldn’t you just buy it at that little Italian place on Court Street?” He meant Caputo’s, and he sent me the address. Regular readers of this blog will already know that I believe there’s value in knowing the long way of doing something; making something from scratch is a pleasure in itself. But even I have my limits. The secret to fresh pasta is this: you buy it at Caputo’s.

Caputo's Fine FoodsCaputo’s has an unassuming storefront in Carroll Gardens. It is one of those places that looks old, in a good way, as though maybe it staked its claim when Brooklyn was still a forest and the neighborhood simply grew up around it. In addition to the refrigerator cases of fresh pasta and sauces and soups, there is an olive bar, a cheese case, bins of glistening homemade mozzarella, shelves of dry pasta and bread and tiny jarred wonders, and freezers of pizza dough and cannoli filling and always, always, more pasta. It is all heaven-help-me groan-worthy. My Caputo’s shopping trips end only because of the limits of my wallet and my refrigerator. I have always said that if I could choose only one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Indian or Mexican, but now I need to add a caveat that I would choose Italian, provided that all of the ingredients came from Caputo’s.

But the food, glorious though it be, is not the only attraction. Continue reading →