Last Night at Chez Bart: Pappardelle with Short Rib Ragu

Pappardelle with Short Rib Ragu

Another recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' Everyday Pasta. I knew I wanted to cook this the second I saw it. It just sounded like the perfect wintery dish: slow cooked short rib in a wine/beef broth sauce. And to top it all off, shaved chocolate to plate??? Yes please!

Store Notes: This dish is surprisingly cheap to make, especially for the amount of effort it entails. Two and a half pounds of short ribs usually costs around ten to thirteen dollars, and you don't need expensive wine. While Mario Batali would probably prefer simmering this with $100 barolo, I cooked it with a $10.99 bottle of "Ali" Sangiovese di Toscana with excellent success.

The one thing this dish does call for, and I feel that every chef should have one, is a food processor. One might be able to prep the sauce with a blender, but it most likely will not come out consistent. So either buy a cheap one, or see if Mom wants to upgrade hers. Trust me; it's well worth it!

Prep Notes: This dish requires many steps, but can easily be bifurcated into two main parts: sauce prep, and meat prep.

Sauce prep: basically chop up the carrots and onion, and add it to the food processor along with the tomatoes, garlic and prescribed herbs. Pulse until it is a nice thick consistency; DO NOT over-process the sauce, otherwise the sauce will come out too soupy.

Meat prep: chop the pancetta and set aside. Next, salt and pepper the short ribs, then dredge in flour. Once they are coated with flour, you are ready to begin cooking.

Now, people may read this and wonder why I separated these into two distinct steps. The reason is, once one start cooking the meat, the average chef just does not have the skill to blast away at vegetables without overcooking the meat. And in this dish, which is predicated on slow cooking, overcooked meat can be disastrous.

Browning the ribs; interestingly, I am using my
crock-pot insert instead of a soup pot.

Cook Notes: In a large heavy soup pot - a 4 quart soup pot should work - with plenty of oil to cover, sauté the pancetta. Next, remove the pancetta and place the short ribs in the pot to brown. Whatever you do, DO NOT cook the ribs all the way through!!! This will result in tough meat later in the cooking process, making shredding it practically impossible. Remember, the whole point is to slowly cook the meat so it is tender and imbues flavor into the sauce.

Here, the ribs are simmering nicely in the sauce.
While it looks soupy now, a few hours of simmering
reduces the liquid to that of a nice sauce consistency.

Brown the ribs, flipping so both sides get a good golden color: just a couple of minutes per side. Next, pour the contents of the food processor into the pot. Add wine and beef stock, as well as the pancetta, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, drop the heat to that of a rolling simmer and cook with the lid on for an hour and a half. Then, take off the lid and cook for another hour and a half. 

Remove the ribs, and discard the bones - this should not be difficult, as the meat should be super tender. Shred the meat and place back into the sauce. Serve with pasta (see previous posts for my take on preparing pasta), and plate with shaved bittersweet chocolate!

I usually under-cook the pasta slightly in the boiling water,
and instead, toss the pasta (with a bit of the pasta water)
with the sauce still on the stove. The heat should finish
it off nicely!

Tasting Notes: This dish is, without a doubt, one of the best that I have ever made. It is extremely flavorful; my palette just exploded with the richness of the slow-cooked rib combined with the saltiness of the pancetta, sweetness of the chocolate, and the savoriness of the herbs in the sauce. It is also very rich and heavy. I was filled to the gills with only a medium-sized portion. 

Libation Notes: While the preparation of this dish might not require expensive wine, the actual partaking of this dish does. Because of the explosion of flavors, this dish truly deserves to be paired with exuberant red wines: Barolo and Brunello di Montalcino are two Italian wines that come to mind. Of course if you wanted to get away from the Italians, a tasty Bordeaux or red Burgundy from France, or a spicy Malbec from Argentina or Chile would pair quite well.

Overall: This is the perfect wintery-weekend dish to serve. Prepare all the ingredients after lunch, start cooking around 2pm, and you will have a rich and decadent meal that tastes many times the effort it requires by 5pm. It sticks to your ribs, warms you up, and just assaults your taste-buds with both sweet and savory flavors. 

Last Night at Chez Bart: Swordfish & Spaghetti with Citrus Pesto

*Note: This will be the last seafood dish I make for a while. So for those of you who are not down with the sea, just hold out till Sunday. I have a really good short rib recipe I want to try!


Swordfish & Spaghetti with Citrus Pesto

Another recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' Everyday Pasta. I decided to give this one a shot, because well... I LOVE pesto!

Store Notes: The swordfish definitely is not cheap, especially the 2lbs that it requires. I ended up cutting the steaks in half, throwing the second lot in the freezer for another time. This recipe also requires about a cup and a half of basil - obviously for the pesto - which can be annoyingly pricy at certain stores. 

Also, if you do not own a microplane, this would be the time to buy one. It will make the zesting of lemons and oranges that this recipe requires, as well as future zesting, so much easier.

Finished pesto!

Prep Notes: A food processor works best for making the pesto, which is just basil, pine nuts, salt, pepper, and olive oil blended in a food processor. A blender will suffice, but you will have better results using a food processor. In my go at this recipe, I threw the pine nuts on a small skillet over medium heat to toast them. It's not necessary, but adds a nice toasty nutty flavor to the pesto.

To make the pesto, throw all the ingredients but the olive oil into the processor, and pulse to a coarse chop. Next, opening the shoot at the top, slowly drizzle olive oil while running the processor until you have a smooth sauce. It really isn't that difficult! 

Also, pesto stores very well. One of the tricks my Mom always taught me was to make tons of pesto in the summer (when Basil is in season) because it freezes very well. You can pour it into small containers and throw it into the freezer (make sure you pour a little olive oil over the exposed pesto in the container - this will preserve the green color), or even pour it into ice cube trays, freeze them, and then break them in a plastic bag to put back into the freezer. That way you have your portions already perfectly measured!

Finally, to prep the swordfish, baste them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Sautéing the swordfish

Cook Notes: To boil the pasta, use a stock pot with plenty of water. Add kosher salt LIBERALLY. I cannot stress this enough; do not shy away from adding salt to the water. While the water is heating to boil, heat up a sauté or grill pan to medium-high heat. The recipe calls for swordfish to cook 3-4 minutes a side for 1-inch thick steaks. So figure 8 minutes total cooking time, and since the pasta package said 10-14 minutes cooking time, I throw the swordfish on the skillet once the pasta had been coking for 6 minutes.

Once the pasta and swordfish are done cooking, pull them off the stove. Toss the pasta with the pesto in a large bowl, adding some parmesano reggiano. Plate the pasta with the swordfish, and you are done!

Plated and ready to be destroyed!

Tasting Notes:  I really do enjoy this pesto recipe. The hints of lemon and orange really create a pesto that is not overly heavy and rich, making it a perfect complement to fish. Speaking of the fish, the salt and pepper really gives the swordfish good flavor, but I think I would have added a little lemon too. It just needs a bit more gusto! That being said, I think this recipe could work with a lot of different kinds of fish: halibut, whitefish, grouper, etc. - fish that are not overly fishy (like salmon or trout), but have nice balance. In fact, swordfish is probably the fishiest one would want to do with this recipe, as the fish would overpower the pesto.

Libation Notes: This dish definitely requires a delicate wine, thereby not overpowering either the fish or the pesto. For a white, I would go with a Pinto Grigio: something that is light, crisp, and refreshing. While I would be apprehensive to suggest a red, I think a rosé would go with this dish nicely as well.

Overall: Not difficult to make, but requires some preparation. A great interpretation of the classic pesto recipe, that is extremely versatile. One could arguable serve this pasta with fish (as per what the recipe calls for), chicken, or even veal. A true delight to make.

Last Night at Chez Bart: Spaghetti alla Pirata

Spaghetti alla Pirata

Another recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' Everyday Pasta; I felt the desire to make this dish when I saw that the sauce was made in a similar fashion to what I had learned during my trip to Italy. It also calls for crushed red pepper flakes, which I love to use in Italian cooking.

Fresh seafood!

Store Notes: As with any seafood dish, shellfish can get expensive - especially when you increase the size of the fish. I opted to cook with the medium sized shrimp, which ended up costing around $7.50 for the pound it required. It also calls for 2lbs of clams (though I substituted those for scallops and squid; more on that later), adding to the cost.

Prep Notes: Quite a bit of prep work in this dish; it requires the preparation of the sauce (more like a salsa) before the pasta and seafood are cooked. Ingredients, including: chunks of parmesan cheese, whole cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil; are added with oil and other seasonings into a food processor. There, the ingredients are pulsed to a coarse chop.

The sauce, once removed from the food processor

The shrimp, tossed with oil and red pepper flakes

To prep the seafood: olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt are whisked into a bowl. This liquid is then used to coat the shrimp, and with the addition of lemon juice, will eventually become the cooking liquid for the clams. 

Sautéing the shrimp

Cook Notes: To boil the pasta, use a stock pot with plenty of water. Add kosher salt LIBERALLY. I cannot stress this enough; do not shy away from adding salt to the water. While the water is heating to boil, heat up a sauté pan to medium heat. Using a slotted spoon (this keeps the liquid for the clams), add the shrimp once the pan has reached temperature and sauté. Once the shrimp are cooked, transfer them to another bowl. Add the lemon juice and clams to the liquid, toss, and pour into the sauté pan. Cover, and cook until all the clams are open. REMEMBER: clams that do not open are bad and should be thrown away.

In a large bowl, toss the seafood, pasta, and sauce. Remember, when draining the pasta, save some of the water to add to the large bowl for tossing with the sauce and seafood. 

The end result: delish'!

Tasting Notes: The sauce: with the fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, and garlic; reminds me of one of the cooking classes I took in Italy. There, we took whole cherry tomatoes and squeezed them to create a sauce for cannelloni beans. This recipe, which has a bit more gusto due to the basil and garlic, tastes just as fresh and wonderful. 

Now, when I made this dish, I substituted the clams for scallops and squid. If I were to remake this, I would have foregone the squid and increased the scallops. The reason was the liquid that squid retains. The second I dropped it on the hot sauté pan, water started to fill the pan and turning a basic sauté into a boil. Nevertheless, I managed to make due, and the end result turned out very nice

Of course the shrimp were the true centerpiece of this dish. They had just enough spice to balance the sweetness - even richness, due to the olive oil - of the sauce. 

Libation Notes: This dish has a nice balance of flavors, and as such I wouldn't want to over-power it. A Pinot Grigio would certainly do nicely, as would a Sangiovese. Given the spice of the dish, I might be more keen in selecting a white over a red, though a Rosé could work if this dish is prepared in the summer. 

Overall: Not difficult to make, but requires some preparation. A really easy way to make a fresh and tasty seafood pasta dish. The tomato, basil, and garlic combines wonderfully with seafood and spiciness of the shrimp.

Last Night at Chez Bart: Saffron Orzo with Shrimp

*Note: I know this has nothing to do with traveling; still, I figured I would document some of the cooking I do. I plan on including pictures of the actual cooking, the finished dish, tasting notes, and libation parings. As this is the first one, I didn't take many pictures. As I do more of these posts I am sure  I will get the hang of it!

Saffron Orzo with Shrimp

This recipe came from Giada de Laurentiis' Everyday Pasta, a sequel to her best selling cookbook, Everyday Italian. I have had Everyday Italian, for a while, and I love it. Giada provides a nice array of recipes, from pasta dishes, to antipasti, salads, deserts, and more typical main entrées like Veal Scaloppini, and Osso Bucco. Most are very accessible to amateur chefs like myself, and the end results are very tasty.

Anyways, yesterday I had a strong desire to cook something tasty for dinner. I wandered over to Barnes & Noble, perused through their cooking section, and ended up with Everyday Pasta. I picked out this recipe a bit later, jotted down the ingredients, and ran over to Holiday Market for the necessary items.

Store Notes: This dish can get a bit pricey, due to it calling for saffron. A jar of saffron in the spice isle of your neighborhood supermarket can be over $20. The shrimp can also be expensive; 2lbs of jumbo shrimp can easily eclipse $30. One can settle for smaller shrimp; this would drop the price to a bit over $15.

Prep Notes: This dish is very easy to prepare. The only slicing and dicing required is 1/4 cup of fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley.

Cook Notes: There are two critical junctures when preparing this dish: 1. blooming the saffron, and 2. cooking the orzo. 

Blooming the saffron is the simmering of the saffron in the cooking liquid before adding the pasta. This is what brings the tasty essence of the saffron into the liquid, so when you add the starch to the water, the essence is transfered to the pasta. Once the liquid has reached a boil, lower the heat to that of a rolling simmer, and add the saffron. Stir occasionally, and after 5 minutes or so, you will notice the saffron starting to pull apart like a flower blooms. Once this occurs, raise the heat so the liquid boils, and then add your orzo.

With cooking the orzo, the key is to not overcook it so it is soft like steamed rice. Orzo is technically a pasta, and as such, should be cooked till al dente (to the tooth, or with a slight resistance to the bite). Cook the orzo for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Around the 8 minute mark, sample the orzo, and use that taste to give a sense as to how much longer it will take. Whatever you do, don't be afraid to pull the sauce pan off the stove, with liquid remaining, and drain the orzo. Sometimes the orzo will be done with hardly any liquid remaining, and sometimes not. Just don't overcook it in order to boil the remaining liquid - it will turn to mush!

Finally served and garnished with some left over parsley.
Look at that gorgeous golden color from the saffron!

Tasting Notes: The saffron, aside from imbuing the orzo with a beautiful golden color, provides a very sweet and subtle flavor that is well worth its expensive price. The sweetness of the shrimp, combined with that of the saffron, is enhanced by the generous use of olive oil, making this surprisingly rich and decadent. Much to my surprise, this is balanced nicely with lemon and pepper notes used to prepare the shrimp before sautéing.

Libation Notes: While pairing a seafood dish with red wine is seen by some as heresy, the richness of this dish could stand on its own against any but the most vibrant italian reds. If one wanted to stick with a white wine, I would prefer something a bit drier and fuller-bodied, like a Chardonnay. If you did want to pair it with a red, then a nice Chianti Classico, Nebbiolo, or Barbera would do the trick; medium bodied and not too dry, as to not over-power the presence of the seafood.

Overall: Easy to make, but pricey. Would serve as an excellent side for a special occasion, or a cozy romantic meal for two in the middle of winter.