Zinfandel Spaghetti with Spicy Broccoli



Zinfandel Spaghetti with Spicy Broccoli

Before I start discussing this dish, I'd first like to thank Donna and Chad of The Slow Roasted Italian for choosing me as the winner of their Fresina's Pasta Company and Italian Specialties Giveaway! If you get a chance, check out Fresina's at their website. You'll see these ingredients used here soon.

I really like this dish because it's visually striking, yet easy enough for a weeknight meal. I've also never seen pasta prepared so creatively. Perhaps this could be a first course for the pesto chicken recipe I profiled last week?

A note of disclosure: This is the dish I referred to in my chicken teriyaki recipe a few months ago. I wanted to go back to correct the mistake I referred to earlier.

The Challenge

Practice my plating and photography skills while correcting a flaw in the cooking instructions.

The Source

This recipe appears on page 104 of Michael Chiarello's Bottega by Michael Chiarello with Ann Krueger Spivack and Claudia Sansone, but I originally found it on Tasting Table. I have used the updated version on Chef Chiarello's own website, NapaStyle here.

Ingredients

1 3/4 pounds broccoli crowns
1 pound spaghetti
1 bottle red wine (750-ml -preferably Zinfandel)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup grated Pecorino cheese

Method

1. Cut broccoli into 1-inch wide florets. Blanch in a 6 to 8 quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, 2 minutes. Transfer with slotted spoon to a large colander to drain, reserving broccoli-cooking liquid in pot, then transfer broccoli to a bowl.

2. Return cooking liquid to a boil and cook spaghetti, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes only. (Pasta will not be fully cooked). Reserve one cup of pasta water and drain pasta in colander and return empty pot to stovetop.

3. Add wine and sugar to pot and boil vigorously 2 minutes until liquid is reduced a bit. Add spaghetti and shake pot to prevent pasta from sticking. Gently stir with tongs until coated and boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 6 minutes (Pasta should be al dente).

4. Immediately after adding spaghetti to wine mixture, cook garlic and red pepper flakes in the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-low heat, tosing the ingredients occasionally, until garlic is pale golden, about 5 minutes. Add broccoli, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water.

5. Pour broccoli into pot with the spaghetti mixture and carefully toss with tongs to combine. Cook while stirring, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, season with freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Stir in the grated cheese. Serve immediately.

Successful?

Yes! The broccoli never splattered like my first experience with this dish. I was also skeptical the broccoli would be cooked through, but it was allowed to cook after they were removed from the water.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Over this past weekend, the third season of Worst Cooks in America premiered. In order to build a following, Food Network ran repeats of season two on Saturday afternoon. In one of the episodes, the contestants were challenged with repeating several skills they had learned earlier in the season in one decathlon (e.g. julienning carrots or filleting fish). They were timed, but accuracy was just as important. In watching the contest, it occurred to me that, while I consider myself a knowledgeable cook, I'm a little slow in the completion of tasks.

The Challenge

What this challenge boils down to is preparing a quality mise en place quickly. I can't rush the process of cooking the dish and Chef Chiarello went to a lot of trouble adjusting the dish appropriate for a weeknight. First, the recipe as it appears in the book followed by the time elapsed to complete each task.

The Source

Page 110 of Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking by Michael Chiarello with Janet Fletcher

Ingredients

1/3 pound pancetta in one piece, partially frozen (freeze for about 30 minutes to make it easier to slice)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced, onion-soup style*
3/4 pound spaghetti or bucatini
Scant 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3/4 cup tomato pureé
Freshly grated Pecorino

Method

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.

2. Meanwhile, unroll the pancetta. Cut into 1-inch-long chunks, then slice each chunk thinly across the grain.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over moderately low heat. Add the pancetta and cook until it renders some of its fat, about 5 minutes. Do not allow it to crisp. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. While the onion is cooking, add the pasta to the boiling water.

Onions Added

4. Add the red pepper flakes and parsley to the onion mixture and cook briefly to release their fragrance. Add the wine vinegar and simmer briskly until it evaporates, then add the tomato pureé and 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Simmer briefly to blend.

5. When the pasta is just shy of al dente, drain it and return it to the warm pot over medium heat. Add the sauce and cook briefly so the pasta absorbs some of the sauce, then transfer to a warmed serving bowl and shower with the pecorino. Serve immediately.

*Onion-soup style: Slice off both ends, then halve lengthwise and peel. Now slice thinly lengthwise (from stem end to root end), not crosswise. This method gives you shorter, more even slices instead of long, stringy slivers that can be unpleasant to eat, especially in a soup.

Successful?

With the task of completing my prep work in a timely manner, the mise en place was finished in 44 minutes (which includes freezing the pancetta). Start to finish, it was about a ninety minute project, so I was successful from that standpoint. If I were to repeat this dish again, I'd use medium heat to render the pancetta and use more tomato pureé. Overall a good weeknight meal and, for two people, enough leftovers to brown bag it the next day.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

The Challenge

Uncommon cooking method. Can the heat from the pasta cook the eggs adequately?

The Source

Page 111 of Cook Like A Rock Star by Anne Burrell with Suzanne Lenzer

Mise En Place

Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 pound spaghetti
8 large eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino
Freshly ground black pepper
4 scallions, green parts only, cut into 1-inch lengths on a severe bias

Method

1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Coat a large skillet with olive oil and bring it to medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to color and become crisp, 6 to 8 minutes; remove from the heat.

Rendered Pancetta

2. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest. Taste it: It should be tooth-some with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the center-this is al dente.

3. While the pasta is cooking, crack the eggs into a large bowl and add the grated Parm and Pecorino; season with salt and whisk vigorously until well combined. Season with black pepper.

Egg and Cheese Mixture

4. Bring the pan with the pancetta back to medium heat. Drain the pasta, add it to the pan, and coat it with any fat in the skillet. Remove the pan from the heat, add the egg mixture to the pasta, and stir vigorously to combine. Cover and let it sit for 1 to 2 minutes so the steam gently cooks the eggs. Uncover and stir again-the egg mixture will seem like a cream sauce. Serve immediately garnished with sliced scallions.

Pasta Coated With Fat

Successful?

Yes, the eggs cooked adequately from the steam.