healthier, simple "pasta alla vodka"

Not really at all like pasta alla vodka in ingredients or method, this nonetheless is reminiscent of it. Victor made this up the other day when we didn't have much food in the house; it's amazingly creamy even though it has no cream. Wholesome and decadent? Sign me right up.

Linguine Cacio e Pepe, with Tomato
adapted from Smitten Kitchen by Victor

I made the sauce while my pasta cooked. It fits right into that amount of time (8-12 minutes, depending on your pasta), and you get to serve both the pasta and sauce immediately after they've finished cooking.

Pasta Ingredients:

1/2 pound spaghetti or linguini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 twelve-ounce can diced, fire-roasted tomato (I used Muir Glen)

Pasta Directions:

Cook pasta in well-salted water to your al dente tastes in a large pot.  Drain pasta, reserving 3/4 cup of the cooking water.

Dry out your pot, then heat the olive oil over high heat until almost smoking. Carefully add drained pasta and 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water.

Add butter, cheese, and ground pepper, and toss together with tongs. Add more pasta water, cheese, pepper or salt to taste.

Sauce Directions:

Open the canned tomatoes now. You'll need them in a minute or two.

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is up to temperature, add the diced garlic. Push the garlic around in the oil until it all pulls together into a little clump. There should be just enough oil there to keep all the little bits of garlic floating, basically shallow-frying in a little puddle.

When the garlic begins to brown visibly, add the entire can of diced tomatoes. There's a bunch of liquid in there, so it may splatter a bit. Stir the tomatoes and garlic together, then spread the mixture evenly across the skillet. Lower the heat to medium. I used a splatter guard, but it wasn't really necessary after the first big sizzle was over.

Let the tomato mixture cook until all of the visible pools of liquid have cooked off, 8-10 minutes. If the skillet begins to show through while there's still liquid in the pan, stir and spread the mixture again. When most of the liquid is gone, you'll have something that looks a bit like chunky tomato jam (it's not jam, though, because there's no sugar in there).

Serving:

Serve pasta, sprinkling with reserved cheese and an extra grind or two of black pepper. Add a generous ladle of the tomato sauce on the side.

When I made this recipe, we both ended up mixing the pasta and sauce together. The result was a pinkish and creamy sauce that was remarkably like a vodka sauce. That makes some sense, because it's got a similar list of ingredients (cheese, fat, tomato). But, there's no alcohol and much less fat here. What are the vodka and cream really for, then? The cream is obvious - rich and sweet. The vodka is supposed to develop tomato flavor. We got a similarly deep, sweet sauce by using canned fire-roasted tomatoes and cooking them down in their own liquid. Take that, fattening restaurant food! It's like Cook's Illustrated up in here! Except that I got this result by accident, and I've only done it once, so it's possible that it was a total fluke.

Week of Mar 18

"The Simplest Potato & Leek Braise"

Our cookbook club (see here for an excellent description of what a cookbook club is and how to start one) met for the second time this month. We had two books this time, both by Molly Stevens: All About Braising and All About Roasting. I only have the braising book, so that's where I chose my recipe from.

It was great - comforting and tasty; it would be fabulous served alongside a ham, I think, although it certainly went well with the wild assortment of braised and roasted foods everyone brought to the potluck. (There were two different roasted chickens, a roasted goat leg, braised white beans, roasted broccoli, a pasta salad made with roasted tomatoes, and roasted brown-sugar pineapple. Plus probably some other things that I've forgotten. It was all very tasty.)

The Simplest Potato & Leek Braise
from Molly Stevens, All About Braising

• about 1 1/2 pounds leeks
• 1 1/2 lb yellow-fleshed potatoes
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• pinch of freshly-grated nutmeg
• coarse salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 1/4 C chicken stock, heated to near boiling
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 C heavy cream

Heat the oven to 325F. Butter a shallow baking or gratin dish.

Trim the leeks of their leathery green top parts. Clean them, and cut the tender green and white parts into 3/4" sections. Peel and chop the potatoes.

Mix leeks, potatoes, thyme, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in the baking dish. Spread the potatoes out into a relatively even layer and pour the hot stock over them. Dot the top with butter.

Cover tightly with foil and braise (without disturbing) for about 45 minutes until the leeks and potatoes are almost tender. Remove the foil and gently stir with a rubber spatula. If there's not much liquid left, re-cover with the foil. If there's liquid halfway up the sides of the dish (or more), leave the foil off. Continue to braise until completely tender (another 20-25 min).

Remove the dish from the oven, and increase the oven temp to 425F. Remove the foil if you haven't already and pour the cream over the potatoes. Return to the oven, uncovered, and bake until the top is browned and bubbly, another 25-30 min. Let rest at least 5 min and serve directly from the baking dish.

serves 6 as a side dish

Week of Feb 26

* Chickpea & Kale Curry
* Roasted Sweet Potatoes
* Leek and Potato Braise

crispy leeks - the return!

In an effort to bring more crispy leeks into our lives, I've been googling around for other recipes that use 'em (because we're not going to eat steak every week nor am I going to eat fried leeks for lunch, tempting though those ideas are).

I tried this egg salad Saturday; it was good, but not great, and definitely not the best use of the salty deliciousness of the leeks. I wish I'd fried some up to top the mac & cheese earlier in the week - I think they'd have been a yummy addition. Also, Victor made hamburgers the other day - next time we have those, I'm definitely going to try topping the burgers with fried leeks. They're a great pairing for beef, and could top most casseroles. Or maybe I'll just give in to temptation and make some as a snack.

Friendship & Herby Bread

A friend brought this amazing dill-y bread to a potluck we hosted many years ago. I basically couldn't stop eating it, even though conceptually it sounded a little strange: dill, honey, and yogurt bread? It was delicious; when I asked, it turned out to be from Molly Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Later (I think after hearing me pine away after the cookbook, mostly because I wanted to make this recipe), another friend got me the book as a gift. I generally make this bread when I have some leftover dill, and every time I do, I think about my friends and feel very loved. It is supremely comforting.

Yogurt & Herb Bread
from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

• butter, oil, or oil+flour spray for the pan
• 1 C white flour
• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 C firm yogurt
• 5 Tbs butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 C sugar, honey, or agave nectar
• 2 Tbsp fresh dill, minced (or 2 tsp dry)
• 1 - 3 tsp dried herbs (oregano, thyme, marjoram, and basil are all good bets)

Grease a medium-sized loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Put the butter in a medium bowl and melt it in the microwave (on high, stirring after every 15 sec). Beat the yogurt and sweetener into the melted butter. Beat in the eggs. Mix in the herbs.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture into it. Mix until completely blended.

Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a knife inserted all the way into the center comes out clean. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then remove and cool on a rack for at least 20 min before slicing.

yield: 1 medium-sized loaf

Not-Entirely-Unhealthy Mac & Cheese

I came across this recipe recently and immediately bookmarked it. I don't have a favorite mac & cheese recipe, mostly because I haven't found anything that's relatively healthy but still tastes good. (I recently picked up a box of Kraft Mac-n-Cheese and it was frakkin' delicious... but not at all something I can justify eating on a regular basis.) This caught my eye because it wasn't crazy complicated, it used whole wheat pasta, AND it wasn't full of butter or cream.

We had some excellent whole wheat elbow pasta I'd been meaning to use in something, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I ended up doctoring the recipe pretty substantially, and I'm still not sure that it was quite right, but it's a keeper nonetheless. (Also, Victor LOVED it.) I think it would be good topped with fried or caramelized alliums (leeks and onions would both definitely work, and maybe garlic).

Not-Entirely-Unhealthy Mac & Cheese
inspired by this recipe

• 2 pieces hearty whole wheat bread
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 2 1/2 C whole wheat pasta
• 3 C whole milk
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1-2 C water (if needed)
• 1 C shredded cheddar (I used Dubliner)
• 1 C frozen peas
• 1/4 C grated Parmesan, optional

Make bread crumbs: toast the bread, then tear into pieces and pulse in a mini-prep until broken into small crumbs. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat, add the crumbs and 1/2 tsp salt. Toast, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Add the pasta, milk, 1 1/2 tsp salt, and mustard to an oven-safe medium sauce pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the pasta is tender. If the milk thickens too much before the pasta is cooked, add some water. When the pasta is tender but still slightly al dente (for whole wheat pasta, I find that this point is where it still tastes slightly bitter but has softened - it will finish cooking in the oven), remove from heat and stir in the cheddar.

After the cheddar has melted, stir in the peas. Top with the bread crumbs and the Parmesan, if using. Bake (uncovered) for 10 minutes.

serves 4