May 2012
7 posts
1 tag
Pizza with mussels and green garlic
Most cooking is easy. Pizza requires skill. I grew up in the best pizza state in the universe, Connecticut, so my standards are high. Delicious toppings are the easy part. You can one-up the delivery chains with just a little foodie hipster smackdown. Two-up them. Seven-up them, even. (Hey, just got that one.) But a perfectly cooked crust, crispy but chewy with flavor and char, that...
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Classic beef tacos
With rice pilaf, charred corn, refried beans. The meat has some sauteed onions and jalapenos as well as a basic spice mixture. Tex-mex, I guess.
1 tag
Edamame-miso pesto
It’s wedding season, and if there’s one thing that’s better than true love, it’s passed appetizers. I was recently at a wedding event catered by the Rickshaw Dumpling truck, and holy sign-of-the-times, Batman, the vegetarian dumplings were the best of the bunch and absolutely delicious. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then stick a chopstick in me,...
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Roasted chicken and potatoes, roasted beets with...
Chicken chicken chicken beet beet beet potato potato potato, chicken chicken chicken beet beet beet…..
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Fried oysters, sriracha mayo, brussels with fish...
I have a deep fryer, with which I fry things. There is something in the world better than a fried oyster, and that is a fried Ipswich clam, a delicious sea creature that is certainly unavailable for retail purchase in the District. (Long live Lenny’s of Branford, CT!) But oysters are delicious and available everywhere. Roasted brussels sprouts with equal parts water, sugar, and fish...
1 tag
Gay marriage pork chop
All right, there’s no connection, but the recipe really is delicious! I’ve combined two Chris Kimball recipes: his “basic” pork chop spice rub, which accompanies a recipe for grilling, and his easy pan-sauteed pork chop recipe. Total winner. The pan-saute produces a pork chop that is juicy and succulent, with a nice crispy crust — an all-too rare combination for...
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Crab cakes, polenta, asparagus
Crab cakes, without fresh crab! That are just as good as fresh crab cakes! That was the promise of this recent recipe from Chris Kimball. And my man over at My Year with CK agreed. So were the cakes as good as they say? As good as cakes with fresh crab? In a word: no. They were tasty, but an awful lot of work for something not quiite as good as the real thing. I’d recommend...
April 2012
8 posts
1 tag
Pork ragu
When people think of pasta with meat sauce, usually they’re thinkin’ beef. I do love me some spaghetti and meatballs, having created the single best version of that dish in the history of the world, but really pork gives beef a run for its money when it comes to pasta. Exhibit A: Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon bacon bacon. Do I need to say more? Yes, because this weekend I made an...
1 tag
Scallops and sorrel, lemon brown butter, asparagus...
A spring take on a Bittman classic.
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Rub it in chicken
Lately, I’ve been feeling like spice rubs are underutilized in American cooking. Aside from the occasional blackened fish fillet and maybe some Texas brisket, it’s a relatively rare technique. That’s really too bad, and this great spice mixture from Chris Kimball - applied to a piece of poultry a few hours before roasting - should make a convert out of you. (If you have...
1 tag
Where the wild leeks are: Ramps, eggs, polenta
And when I came to the place where the wild leeks are,
they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth,
‘til I said “BE STILL!” and tamed them by sauteing them with butter and garlic.
I’LL EAT YOU UP!
1 tag
Best light egg salad, from the pantry
My stomach does not miraculously fill itself. I need to put things in my mouth and chew those things in order to become full. Unusual, I know. Daunting, even. Your sympathy is appreciated, but it isn’t necessary. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. It is what it is.
As a result of my… condition, I’m always on the look-out for healthy, tasty things to...
1 tag
Rethinking tacos: brisket
Hello tacos my old friend,
I’ve come to eat you again,
Because the passover seder,
Left me brisket to eat later,
And the flavor that was planted in my mouth,
Still remains
with the taste
of tacos….
1 tag
Spring Green Pasta
Has swiss chard always existed? Did someone in an alternate universe create swiss chard a few years ago and decide to insert it here through the fourth dimension, altering our recollections and adding references to it in all forms of media? Has swiss chard always existed, but our memories of it before 2009 were wiped out by radiation from the flux capacitor? Alternatively, am I just the...
1 tag
Passover Brisket
When Passover was at hand,
Let my brisket go!
Meat not tough as rubberband,
Let my brisket go!
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The Secret to great brisket, in my (and Chris Kimball’s) opinion, is twofold. First, you need to braise the meat, getting a delicious flavorful crust from a sear in the pan and then cooking it forever in tasty liquid. Second, you need to strain the fat off so that the...
March 2012
10 posts
1 tag
The Hunger Pestos
I roll over in bed. Is it… today? It feels like any other day. I consider braiding my hair… then remember my hair is too short to braid. I slide onto my bike and hightail it to the farmer’s market, sack (Trader Joe’s grocery bag) slung over my shoulder. Is it… today? (Ramp) reaping day? I arrive, and there they are. Ramps. The funkiest leeks in the world. ...
1 tag
Spanish chicken
Do you ever think to yourself, “Boy, I’d like to take in a bullfight today!”? Or perhaps you say: “It’s time for some flamenco dancing!” When you find yourself lusting for the fiestas of Spain, I have a solution that doesn’t involve taffeta or being chased around by a large angry animal.
Unless that floats your boat…
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This...
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Meatball sub with Philly provolone and caramelized...
When life gives you the best meatballs ever….
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Don Draper spaghetti (with the best meatballs...
This blog is not about Pasta As You Know It. This blog is about pasta expansion. About going boldly where no pasta has gone before. Red sauce Italian: it’s literally a cliche. But, you know, sometimes you need to break old ground. Connect it to the return of Mad Men, if you like. What’s in now? What was in then.
Incidentally, these were the best meatballs I’ve had in...
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Steak
Steak. From CostCo. Mmm.
1 tag
Danny Habib pasta (clams and bacon)
There’s something magical about the way clam sauce combines with pasta. The pasta becomes… something other than pasta. It’s subtle. It’s mysterious. It’s terrific.
This paranormal activity comes courtesy of the great Daniel G. Habib, who apparently picked it up from Joe Girardi, the manager of the New York Yankees.
OK, I made that last part up….
...
1 tag
Sesame chicken
I like Chinese-American food. This we know. A question for the ages: what’s the difference between General Tso’s chicken and sesame chicken? Answer: don’t look at me. The question for today: can you make sesame Tso without deep frying?
Answer: not quite, but the result is still pretty tasty…
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I got this recipe from this blog. I’m...
1 tag
Panko cod, honey-mustard green beans, refried...
Mmmmm.
1 tag
Sage advice pasta
What do you get when you cross the Dalai Lama with Colonel Sanders?
Fried sage……..
A sage can be a wise old man, sublime wisdom, or a subtle herb with leaves that become sublimely crunchy when fried. Since sausage is just ground fatty pork seasoned with a blend the Italians have been perfecting for thousands of years, this pasta really captures two of the three...
1 tag
Caramel pudding
Dessert: it’s what’s for dinner. Wait. You know, dessert isn’t really my thing, but I do like dessert. Dessert is growing on me. I like pudding, for example. And caramel. The answer was clear: flan.
Maybe some other time…
Lately I’ve been mixing Oreos with pudding. Actually, they’re from Safeway and called “penguins,” but,...
February 2012
11 posts
1 tag
Rethinking tacos: BBQ pulled chicken, slaw,...
See you Friday.
1 tag
Ratio pasta (cabbage, bacon, shallots)
I like to think of things in terms of ratios. Sushi: expensive, delicious, reasonably healthy. Good ratio of taste to health, but only middling ratio of taste to price. McDonald’s: delicious, cheap, will kill you. Good performance on taste to money, but taste to health, not so good. That great Chinese place in Falls Church: incredibly delicious, but a hassle to get to. Ratio of...
1 tag
Pasta with broccoli, anchovies, lemon
Short week has me scrambling. Here’s an easy one: broccoli and cauliflower florets, olive oil, salt in oven at 475. Boil pasta in heavily salted water until al dente. In bowl, mix one tin anchovies, large tablespoon crushed garlic, and zest of one lemon. When florets are crispy and brown (about 20 minutes), mix pasta, florets, and contents of bowl. Serve, passing parmesan, lemon...
1 tag
Jeremy Lin-guine (cold sesame noodles, easier)
Have the Jeremy Lin puns been played out? Nobody likes the vaguely racist turn this thing has taken. But naming pasta after a pun, that’s something I can get behind. And I’ve been meaning to recreate a favorite of mine, cold sesame noodles –- an Asian-American phenomenon, if ever there was one — since I tweaked the old recipe to be twice as easy and just as tasty. And, man, is...
1 tag
Extra awesome chili
It’s winter, and even though we’ve had an extreeemely mild season here in the nation’s capital, I was in the mood for some chili. Yes, I know this is a pasta blog. I have a whole list of spring and summer pastas based on fresh vegetables, ready to go in a few short months. But right now it’s cold (kinda) and I want chili. Plus, I have a few sneaky tricks to share with...
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Homemade pasta with asparagus pesto
Writing a blog called The Pasta Man brings with it a certain amount of baggage. People ask questions. Like: is your favorite restaurant the Olive Garden? Or: haven’t you heard of the Atkins diet? And sometimes: have you ever made your own pasta?
Time to put this one to bed.
Yeah, homemade pasta is amazing, like nothing you have ever had before. That shouldn’t...
1 tag
Korean Oven-fried Chicken
There are two places in the world to get great fried chicken. One is the American South. The other is South Korea. Why these two places? I do not know. Perhaps there is something about being at the bottom of a compass that lends one to boil things in oil. I was once on a trip to South Africa in which I ate deep-fried salamander. I have also eaten deep-fried grasshoppers at a restaurant in...
1 tag
Pork chop with spice rub, polenta, greens
Real post on Friday. Still working on this one.
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Rainbow bibimbap
Travel: it inspires you. Airplane food: it does not inspire you. Exception: I flew to and from Southeast Asia on Korean Air and became obsessed with Korean chili-bean paste (gochujang), a rich, spicy, umami-laden sauce which they served with everyhing. Gochujang: like the best spicy ketchup you’ve ever had. Sriracha: not as good as gochujang.
Snap:
This dish was a riff...
1 tag
Pasta alla norma, fast
As I’ve mentioned before, eggplant is better than you think it is. Good eggplant is really good. Mediocre eggplant is really not so good. Like stand-up comedy. Or Nicolas Cage.
(I’m thinking of “The Rock” and… well, just “The Rock.” Though “Face Off” did have a certain so-bad-it’s-good quality to it.)
The problem with really...
1 tag
Fish tacos, refried beans, rice
Mid-week teaser. More to come.
January 2012
10 posts
1 tag
A Night in Tunisia pasta (with harissa, broccoli,...
Where do recipes come from? Maybe you have some fresh ingredients on hand and let them guide your way. Sometimes you have an exact idea in your head and you engineer the recipe to fit the model. Or maybe you have only a vague notion — a flavor profile — in mind and work from there.
Me? These days, I adapt other recipes into pastas.
I saw this post on Serious Eats...
1 tag
Creamy ham and pea pasta
I had still more ham, even after making the cassoulet and eating yet another sandwich. Surely a pasta was called for. They don’t call me the Creative Salad Man. Pasta Man Nation (PMN) demands carbs.
Kid stuff:
p
Yum. Ham and peas just go together. And suddenly I had mac and cheese on the mind. But the cassoulet was rich enough for a week’s worth of meals, so...
1 tag
Tuna teriyaki, brussels with honey-sriracha-lime,...
Real post tomorrow. Today, just the plate.
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When life gives you pig: Cassoulet
A member of Pasta Man Nation (PMN) recently gave me a large quantity of honey smoked ham. So I encountered the age old question: what do you do when life gives you pig? I had a ham sandwich. It was delicious (with spicy mustard and funky provolone from my trip to Philly). I had another ham sandwich. It was delicious again. Then I decided to make a rich and delicious slow-cooked bean stew...
1 tag
Four spice salmon, roasted cauliflower, rice
Salmon is kind of retro. Aren’t we supposed to be over salmon? But salmon is flavorful and so buttery and delicious, I don’t see any reason to get over it. Maybe salmon is one of those things that you don’t get over, like missing the Powerball by a single digit or a failed relationship with Beyonce.
This recipe is a nice, unusual take on a truly timeless pink fish: seared...
1 tag
Tebow pasta (with anchovies, garlic, cherry...
It’s winter. Remember when I made those delicious pastas with those great summer ingredients? Yeah, me neither. At this time of year, you are generally eating jarred tomato sauce and weeping. (Some of you do that all year long, but that isn’t my fault.) Anyway, by now I’m craving a pasta dish with some fresh vegetables, and there are things you can do, but what I really want are tomatoes,...
1 tag
Tangy artichoke pesto
Artichokes are weird. But they’re also pretty delicious. I’ve been experimenting with various artichoke pasta sauces. This one is a tangy pesto.
Paul Simon and Art… Ichoke:
This was a delicious way to incorporate artichokes into a pasta dish. I used lebna (leftover from cheesecake pie), but you could easily substitute goat cheese for that tangy richness....
1 tag
Shakshooka
Healthy, flavorful, cheap, novel, unusual, delicious…
Meet shakshooka:
Shakshooka is an Israeli dish, eggs poached in an extremely flavorful tomato sauce. It sort of feels like cheating to eat eggs for dinner because they’re so cheap, delicious and healthy. What’s the catch? There’s no catch. The spices in my version provide deep flavor and heat, and I...
1 tag
Spanish Harry Potter -- chorizo chickpea...
Have you ever wondered what would happen if my Harry Potter pasta took a trip to Spain? Of course you have and I know it’s been keeping you up at night. The answer is… this dish!
Horatio Poterro pasta?
The key insight of Harry Potter pasta is the magical sorcery of combining beans, breadcrumbs and pasta. You end up with three distinct, but well-combined textures:...
1 tag
Xoi Yen, Ha Noi, Vietnam
At this point in the history of mankind, we have it pretty good in the United States. Culinarily speaking, that is. The Vietnamese and Thai food we have here is fairly similar to the real deal I had in those countries, and you can even get some “authentic” Chinese if you look in the right places. (I do love Chinese-American food and don’t make a fetish out of authenticity,...
December 2011
7 posts
1 tag
Meyer lemon-parmesan sauce with asparagus
I had plenty of Meyer lemons left and a little bit of ricotta, so I thought it’d be fun to vary up my Meyer lemon pasta from the other day. Rather than making a creamy sauce, I whipped the lemon with some parmesan into a thinner sauce and used the ricotta just as a topper. And asparagus was on sale and is always delicious.
This was delicious. Tart from the lemons, creamy...
1 tag
Light cheesecake pie -- still delicious
When I saw that Chris Kimball had a recipe for light cheesecake, I was intrigued. The Cooks Illustrated crew doesn’t tolerate foolishness, and by foolishness I mean the sacrifice of deliciousness for calories. So I knew that if they made a light cheesecake, it would still be delicious, and I would be able to eat a lot of it. Because it’s light. Right? And then when I realized...
1 tag
Pete's Apasta - sausage, caramelized onions,...
I hail from the greatest state in the union… for pizza. What state would that be? Connecticut, of course. From the famous Frank Pepe’s to one-of-a-kind Colony Grille to modish Bar (my favorite), Connecticut knows its pizza. And, lo and behold, the best pizza place in DC is a tribute to, you guessed it, New Haven style pizza. I’m talking, of course, about Pete’s...
Secret ingredient: Meyer lemon, basil and ricotta...
When is a lemon not a lemon? When it’s a Meyer lemon! What is a Meyer lemon? It looks like a lemon but it doesn’t taste like a lemon…. or at least not like any old lemon. Meyer lemons are somewhere between lemons and oranges; tart like a lemon but not nearly soo tart and with more citrus sweet. They’re in season right now! So as usual I decided to use them in a baked chicken dish.
Not...