Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
Shattered Cauliflower Farfalle with kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes and spicy garlic rosemary olive oil Shattered cauliflower is just boiled cauliflower till it melts off of its stems. I kinda wack it with the back of the knife and it shattered into small pieces. I …
I’ve been food crazy lately see my last entry and I have a couple of food outings that I’ll be attending in the next couple of weeks as well. So those should be super fun! I don’t want to wash another dish for a long …
Fleur de sel (“Flower of salt” in French) is a hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. Traditional French fleur de sel is collected off the coast of Brittany (most notably in the towns of Guérande – Fleur de Sel de Guérande, hand harvested from salt marsh water being the most revered), Noirmoutier, and also Camargue. It is an artisanal food product. Due to its relative scarcity, Fleur de sel is one of the more expensive salts.
Fleur de sel is often slightly grey due to the sand collected in the process of harvesting the salt from the pans. On occasion, the presence of Dunaliella salina (a type of pink microalgae commonly found in salt marshes) can give it a light pink tint. It is usually sold in sealed jars.
Nothing like the mildly salty desolving flavor of Fleur de sel on salted caramels, a freshly grilled prime rib eye steak, or a simple heirloom tomato caprese fantastic. Anyway…
I would eat this Pasta when i forgot to eat for about god knows how long with linguine if i wasn’t too tired to pay attention to the pasta water which was at the end almost never so i would settle for angel hair or penne which took me three minutes instead of 8 big deal 5 minutes is when your starving and forgot you haven’t eaten in about a day and a half… geezus no wonder i was so damn skinny back then…
Anyway I love simple pasta with Tomato this is just that… and a crazy load of basil. I love Basil nothing tastes fresher to me than basil. I remember picking so many pieces of basil but i never got tired of it. I always loved that smell, the freshness, it makes me feel at ease.
My favorite Pasta
Boil a large pot of water
add salt to water so when you taste it you can feel the salt on your tongue
1-2 servings
Sauce
1 teaspoon of red chili flake
6-8 Roma tomatoes sliced into quarters long ways
1/2 cup basil chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup of pasta water
1 cup of tomato sauce
pinch of black pepper
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons of Extra virgin Olive Oil
when you use such simple ingredients you have to make sure they are the best quality use ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, finely minced garlic, cold pressed olive oil
Heat olive oil in pan till almost smoking
add tomatoes to hot oil and cook for about 5 minutes be careful of popping oil when cooking. move tomatoes around to caramelize a bit in the oil. Some people don’t like tomato skins if you don’t like tomato skins you can used canned tomatoes if you want but it wont taste as fresh unless you use the roma tomatoes. this is a fresh tomato sauce don’t be afraid of skins or you mine as well just use a jar of marinara and fuck that its not the same
lower heat after and add garlic to tomatoes stir quickly and keep fire low to sweat garlic with tomatoes and be careful not to burn the garlic
add chili fake and black pepper
add pasta water to tomatoes and simmer for another 5 minutes
then add the tomato sauce and 1/2 the basil
cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally
Meanwhile
Make sure the water is rapidly boiling before you put your pasta in
also make sure you cook your pasta at the last minute right before your going to toss it in the sauce
leave it a little raw a little more than al dente and finish cooking it in the sauce that is a little more liquid then you would like if that means adding a little extra pasta water to your sauce do it
cook it down so the flavor sticks to the pasta and coats ever so shinny and delicious
add a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil cold pressed from Italy and freshly chopped Basil right as your about to plate.
Served along side some roasted chicken for my brother in law he doesn’t like much basil
Mine like i said paper plate and more basil and parm mixed in
One of my very favorite things to eat
<3
4 onion and Minced lamb ragu served atop a mascarpone mint pea stuffed ravioli Fettuccine bolognese al forno taglierini with pinot gregio sweet pork ragu Eggplant Parmesan with homemade pappardelle aglio olio I’d say pasta and filled ravioli is one of my specialities. I spent …
Ricotta, piselli, di pollo cannelloni con pana Ricotta, peas, and chicken filled rolled pasta with cream This is a super lush fantastic way to have filled pasta. I used a bunch of crap i had at home and made is snazzy Italian my go to …
Cheers…Here’s to the most unconventional of recipes where I’m talking a lot instead of only showing you how to make something… ahahaha
Easy pasta in case one day you’re a little hungry
just cause it says poached don’t get scared
its just tactics for fancy cooking
tell someone you poached something for them
their gonna be like holy hell this kid can
cook!
plus it eliminates use of a lot of oil and I’m trying to not be 1000 pounds before the end of my life
Farfalle with Tomato Poached Chicken and Broccoli
one box of whatever short kinda pasta you like
i used farfalle… i mean just look at that name… it sounds… delicious
anyway i digress like always
this is why i don’t write recipes
geezus get going…
The Stuff
4 Roma tomatoes chopped
1/2 medium white onion minced
3 cloves of garlic
about 1/2 bunch of basil chopped
2 cups of broccoli washed cleaned and chopped into bit sized pieces my bits are pretty big i don’t like the broccoli to get lost or too smushy!
2 chicken breasts sliced into small pieces now when you do this make sure you go against the gain of the chicken so the pieces remain tender and try and make them as similar in size as possible otherwise you’ll have some dry pieces and some raw ones
1 tablespoon of oregano
2 small cans of tomato sauce
1/2 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
black pepper to taste
a little smoked paprika if you got it
and a dab of cayenne pepper for kicks
salt
large pot of salted boiling water
1 box of you choose it
The Way
okay so now
I add the olive oil to the pan… heat it up
then add the onions
cook them for about 4 minutes
then add the tomatoes
sir em a bit till their good and warm
add the garlic
let that cook some more till everything smells pretty good about 3-4 minutes making sure the fire isn’t too high so your not burning anything
there’s nothing worse than burnt garlic so if you burn it throw it away or else your whole dish is gonna be disgusting
okay so now that’s look in good
pour in the broccoli
mix mix mix
add to this the tomato sauce
and mix it all about
simmer a couple of minutes
then add milk and seasonings
good news is were almost done
okay now that the sauce is bubbling away lower the heat and bubble some more for about 5 minutes
add the chopped chicken to the liquid
mix mix mix again
i know but cooking is repetitive just do it
okay so by this time you can stop mixing
put a lid on the sauce and let it cook
about 6-7 minutes
chicken is quick don’t over cook it
and your not gonna die if you get a tiny little piece of raw chicken so don’t be so paranoid your house isn’t the health department and I’m sure your cleaner then your average taco stand so don’t worry plus everything cooks a little longer when you toss it in. Best bet is make sure the pieces of chicken are the same size for even cooking.
anyway the chickens gonna let go of a lot of nice juices into your sauce
so after you got all that cooked up
your gonna cook your pasta in the water
nice and al dente now
none of this over cooked pasta bullshit
that’s disgusting
my none existent Italian grandmother would be rolling over in her grave
anyway
drain the pasta
add a little good extra virgin olive oil to it
i know i said not too much oil but i don’t even think of olive oil as fat really cause its so good for your skin and your life honestly
you need more olive oil in your life
add the pasta to the sauce
mix mix and let all those juices stick to that yummy goodness
adjust for seasoning
always always always taste and put freaking salt in your food!
lesson number one if you got through all this fucking taste your food
it will help
you know what you like
if you want it spicy
if you want it more tomatoey
if you want it to have candies inside i don’t care your gonna eat it fix it the way you like
At the very end put in the basil
because fresh herbs have the most power when fresh meaning at the end always
and sprinkle with a little parmigiano reggiano or maybe you just have a little packet of cheese from take out pizza the other night
whatever floats your boat
and you got it homies
pasta
enjoy
ps I’m down to vegetarianize… veganize this
get rid of the chicken and milk add an extra can of tomato sauce and a little bit of veggie stock or water 1/2 cup instead of milk
chop up some extra broccoli maybe even some peppers or eggplant would be awesome
cook it in the sauce like you would the chicken
and you got the veggie pasta of your dreams