Chris's Favorite Pasta #9

Chris and I first had this pasta at our friend Peter's dinner party (along with an incredible beef tenderloin, German chocolate cake, and multiple other delicacies!), and it's quickly entered our regular weekly rotation. The recipe, Scallop Sauce with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Hot Pepper from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, is a quick and remarkably delicious dish. Chris doesn't like scallops much, so we substituted frozen shrimp (try the Medium Contessa variety, uncooked, peeled, and deveined), with excellent results. Per usual, we quadrupled the amount of garlic in the dish and ramped up the spice factor. If you love parmesan, garlic, spice, and seafood, this is a pasta dish you definitely need to try!

I would recommend a chilled California or Australian chardonnay with this dish, unoaked if possible. Sauvignon Blanc would be another great option, as would my great Austrian favorite, Gruner Veltliner. Chris and I had this with Jacob's Creek Chardonnay a week ago, and it was a great match.

PS: if you use scallops, use the smallest ones you can find, and preferably ones that haven't been frozen. If you use bay scallops, cut them into pieces as small as the nail on your little finger.


1 pound fresh bay or deep sea scallops or shrimp
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp garlic chopped very fine (or more, if you're a garlic-lover)
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Chopped hot chili pepper, to taste (we love using 8-9 serranos, or a bunch of Thai birds-eye chilis)
Salt
1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta (spaghettini, or thin spaghetti, is the best choice here)
1/2 cup dry, unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted in the oven or in a skillet

1. Wash the scallops in cold water, pat thoroughly with a cloth towel, and cut up into pieces about 3/8 inch thick (or follow the instructions on the package of frozen shrimp)

2. Put the olive oil and garlic in a saucepan, turn the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until the garlic colors a light gold. Add the parsley and hot pepper. Stir once or twice, then add the scallops/shrimp and one or two large pinches of salt. Turn the heat up to high, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring frequently, until the scallops/shrimp lose their shine and turn a flat white/pink. Do not overcook the scallops/shrimp or they will become tough. Taste and correct for salt and hot pepper. If the scallops shed a lot of liquid, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon, and boil down the watery liquid. Return the scallops/shrimp to the pan, turn them over quickly, then turn off the heat.

3. Toss thoroughly with cooked drained spaghettini, add the bread crumbs, toss again, and serve at once!

Asian Cold-Eze

This recipe for Chicken Soup with Jasmine Rice and Ginger, from Food and Wine: an Entire Year of Recipes 2006, is the perfect remedy for anything that ails you. Chris recently came down with a case of the stomach flu, and he was able to keep this down better than saltines! The chicken broth and rice provide low-stress nourishment, and the ginger helps alleviate any nausea. The recipe requires very little work or prep--just a bit of time on the stove.

Don't be scared of the fish sauce--it may stink a bit, but you won't notice it (in a bad way!) in the broth. The Three Crabs brand is fantastic, and can be had at any asian or international grocery.

Instead of poaching individual chicken breasts, I prefer to just buy a rotisserie chicken and shred the meat. If you'd prefer to prepare the meat yourself, take 1-2 chicken breasts and poach them in a bit of water or broth, then let them cool and shred the meat.





4 servings

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp jasmine rice, rinsed if necessary
4 cups water
One 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled (you can do this easily with the edge of a spoon)
3 cups of chicken stock, preferably low-sodium and organic
1 tbsp Asian fish sauce
Pinch each salt and sugar
1/2-1 cup shredded cooked chicken
2 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise
2 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro

1. In a medium saucepan, cover the rice with the water. Bring the rice to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the rice is tender and porridge-like, about 25 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut the piece of peeled ginger into matchsticks: thinly slice the ginger crosswise into coins, then stack the slices. Cut the slices lengthwise into thin slivers.

3. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, salt and sugar to the rice, bring the soup to a simmer and continue cooking over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in half of the ginger slivers and simmer the soup for 10 minutes longer.

4. Ladle the chicken soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the shredded chicken, sliced scallions, chopped cilantro, and the remaining slivered ginger. Serve at once.

Make ahead: The recipe can be made through Step 3 and refrigerated overnight. When reheating the soup, add extra stock to adjust the consistency.

So Good We Forgot to Take a Picture

I know that one of my culinary adventures has been successful when Chris insists that I post it to the blog immediately, "so we don't forget about the recipe." For all of you who know Chris, you also know that this level of culinary dedication is totally out of the ordinary--so this recipe must be damn good. So damn good that we completely forgot to take a picture!!

Chris and I were ravenous when I made this Tagliatelle with Chestnuts, Pancetta, and Sage--from a 2005 issue of Gourmet--and it turned out even better than I could have hoped for. Yes, the chestnuts were remarkably expensive at the grocery store (11.99 a jar--I probably shouldn't have bought them right before Thanksgiving, when the price was probably jacked up), but the pasta honestly tasted like a 50-dollar creation. The combination of the sage and chestnuts creates a crumbly, heady sauce that enrobes every delicate strand of egg pasta. As usual, we didn't have pancetta on hand, so I subbed bacon, which was completely fine. I used all the sage that I had on hand, and it didn't overwhelm the other flavors one bit.

Beverage Note: Chris and I had a bottle of wine with this dish (per usual), but I honestly can't remember what the varietal was. The pasta blew my memory of the vino to bits. Yes, this pasta is that good--just try it!!!

Serves 3-4

3 ounces pancetta (Italian unsmoked cured bacon), chopped (scant 1 cup)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (I used an entire package of sage. It was worth it)
8 ounces bottled peeled roasted whole chestnuts, coarsely crumbled (1 1/2 cups)
8 ounces dried flat egg pasta such as tagliatelle or fettuccine
2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cook pancetta in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and 1 tablespoon sage and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in chestnuts and remove from heat.

Cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water according to package directions. Reserve 1 1/2 cups cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander and add to pancetta mixture in skillet. Add 1 cup reserved cooking water along with cheese and butter and cook, tossing constantly, over high heat until pasta is well coated (add more reserved water if necessary), about 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve sprinkled with parsley and remaining tablespoon sage.

Lazy Girl's Indian

So, faithful reader, at this point you probably think that:

1. Kari is a lush.
2. Kari spends hours cooking EVERY NIGHT. Totally not my style.

As I sit here sipping my chocolate martini (martini purists, I don't wanna hear it!)...I can't deny #1. Alcohol + food = heaven.

However, with regard to #2, that isn't really true...I have lots of "short-cut" recipes that I use on weekdays, that require maybe 5-10 minutes of prep, and then maybe 5-10 minutes of puttering in the kitchen. Really easy, stress-free cooking.

The key to tasty, quick, luxurious meals? Knowing when prepared/frozen foods work, and when they don't. Frozen peas, baguettes, and blueberries work well; frozen strawberries and oily dishes, not so much. In the same vein, Rao's jarred pasta sauces are preservative-free, all-natural, and probably more delicious than anything I can prepare, but other brands--Progresso, Contadina, even Emeril's--just don't cut it. That's not to say that I don't use fresh blueberries in season, or that I don't make my own raw tomato sauce in the summer, but rather that there is a time and a place for frozen and prepared foods.

Indian cuisine, to me, is one of those places. Most people--except, perhaps, my good friend Ivan, who prepares vegetarian Indian cuisine like a native Punjabi--consider Indian food to be quite the undertaking, due to the number of exotic items and spices involved, as well as the time often taken to simmer sauces to an appropriate level of tastiness. Chris and I *love* Indian food, but we 1) can't afford to eat out all the time and 2) like to restrict our level of ghee consumption.

That's where Shere Khan and Geeta's prepared Indian jarred sauces come in. Chock-full of fresh-tasting onions, tomatoes, garlic, spices, and chilis, these sauces reduce hours of cooking to a simple pop-and-pour. They're also incredibly low in sodium and fat, because there's no ghee involved (at maximum, there's a bit of coconut that adds a little fat). Both brands are available at Cost Plus WorldMarket (sensing a trend, here?) and they're pretty economical (~5 bucks a jar).

There's no set recipe for this kind of cooking (although I've indicated some generalities below), but usually it involves browning some meat, adding the sauce to the pan, then adding the desired vegetables for some gentle steam-cooking. These sauces are excellent for vegetarians as well--just add more of the green stuff to your liking to replace the meat. Let the sauce, meat, and veggies simmer for a bit while the basmati rice finishes cooking, pop open a Kingfisher, and voila!--your healthy, spicy, impressively complex-tasting dinner is done in 25 minutes flat, rice cooking time included.

Beverage Note: We had this with Cline's Ancient Vines Zinfandel, perhaps my favorite red under $20.

Chicken breast, frozen peas, and canned chickpeas simmer away happily.

Try this concoction on simple coconut rice--you won't regret it.

Ingredients for 3-4 servings (alter at will)
About 3/4-1 pound of meat (chicken, lamb, etc), preferably organic, cut into bite-size chunks
2-3 cups of vegetables (canned chickpeas, frozen peas, cauliflower, eggplant, broccoli, potatoes, spinach, etc), made bite-size
1 can reduced-fat coconut milk
2 cups of rice, preferably long grain (basmati or jasmine)

Start the rice going--I love my cuckoo rice cooker, but it's perfectly acceptable and traditional to do it over a proper flame! Add the rice, coconut milk, and water to the pot (If using long-grain rice, use about 1.5 cups of liquid to every cup of rice; if using medium-grain, do a little more than 1 cup liquid to 1 cup rice. 1 can of coconut milk is a little less than 2 cups). If desired, add a little salt to the rice.

Brown the meat in a nonstick pan with a little oil over medium to medium-high heat (the Geeta's brand of sauces comes with a packet of spices to brown the meat in. So use those, if you're using Geeta's). If using eggplant, saute that at the same time as the meat. Lower the flame and add the jar of sauce. If using potatoes, add those now and let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes before adding more veggies. Add the remaining veggies, and let simmer til it is cooked to your liking.

Plate the rice, and spoon the Indian goodness over. That's it. Enjoy!

When Supereasy, (Sorta)healthy, and Superyummy Collide

I arrived home on Tuesday to a humongous package on my doorstep, which held my new, GLORIOUS KitchenAid Artisan standing mixer (an engagement present from my extraordinarily generous future parents-in-law!!). It had been a stressful day--I'd just finished an afternoon of briefings--and I knew nothing would calm me down like cooking up a storm. I started with a delicious chicken stirfry from The Breath of a Wok and a delicious bottle of Virginia rose from Chester Gap Cellars, but I felt an intense need to use my brand-new mixer before the night was out.

I had three sticky-ripe bananas on my kitchen counter, so I knew I wanted to use those; my friend Lauren had sent me a "Classic Banana Bread" recipe from Cooking Light just a week or so earlier, and that sounded like the perfect thing. The recipe itself is low-fat and pretty low-cal, but I added chocolate chips so that probably sinned it up a bit!! The bread was ridiculously delicious--soft, moist, and full of intense banana flavor. It also kept very well for about two days (at the end of which we had gobbled up the entire loaf!!). The baking prep was pretty much nonexistent--it was probably 10-15 minutes from the time I started mashing up the bananas to when the loaf was happily baking in the oven.


2 cups all-purpose flour (per Lauren, whole wheat pastry flour would also work well here)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt, and that was just fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
chocolate chips (optional)
Cooking spray (I like Pam for baking!)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

3. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips, if using. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 187 (21% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g); IRON 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 20mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g; SODIUM 198mg; PROTEIN 3.3g; FIBER 1.1g

I Really, Really Love Gnocchi

I debated for a bit whether or not to post this recipe, because it's good, but not knock-your-socks off good. But the gnocchi in this dish--buttered, browned, lightly sprinkled with nutmeg--are so amazingly delicious that they are worth making just on their own. The other components of the dish--the chicken in a fig-and-red-wine-sauce, and the crunchy bacon on top--I could take or leave. But I'll most likely make the gnocchi in this dish again, and perhaps amp up the flavor with some chili flakes or other savory addition.

The recipe, Montalcino Chicken with Figs and Buttered Gnocchi with Nutmeg is from Rachael Ray's Express Lane Meals. This dish isn't as all-out yummy as some of Rachael's other creations, but the gnocchi alone make it worth it. I'm very particular about my brand of gnocchi--the ones available at Trader Joe's are quite good--but my ultimate favorite are the sweet potato gnocchi from Gia Russa, which are available at CostPlus World Market. The sweet potato gnocchi cut down on the glycemic index of the gnocchi, since they're made with nutrient-rich sweet potatoes and whole wheat flour, and their slightly sweet, slightly caramelized flavors go very well with this dish.

Beverage Note: Chris and I drank a delightful bottle of sangiovese with this meal--that's also the wine that we used in the fig-chicken sauce.



4 Servings

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I didn't need much olive oil, since the bacon was pretty fatty)
1/3 pound thick-cut (1/4 inch thick) pancetta, cut into sticks (or sub bacon, like I did)
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, breasts and thighs, cut into large chunks
Salt and black pepper
Flour, for dredging
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
14 to 16 dried black mission figs, quartered
1/3 bottle Rosso di Montalcino wine (or any other dry red wine)
1 cup chicken stock plus up to 1/2 cup more if needed
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, a generous handful, chopped
Zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, 4 sprigs
1 12-to-16 ounce package fresh or frozen gnocchi
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3 tbsp chopped or snipped chives, 10 blades

1. Place a pot of water on the stove to boil for the gnocchi.

2. Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and the pancetta or bacon, and brown it for 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.

3. While the pancetta browns, season the chicken chunks with salt and pepper and dredge them in a little flour (I put the flour in a gallon-size freezer bag and shook the chicken in it, shake-and-bake style). After removing the pancetta/bacon from the pan, add the chicken. Brown the pieces for a few minutes on each side over high heat, then scoot the meat to the edges of the pan and add the onion, garlic, and figs. Saute 5 minutes, combine the chicken with the onions and figs, then add the wine and cook it down for 5 minutes or so until only 1/3 cup of liquid remains. Add 1 cup of the chicken stock, the parsley, lemon zest, and thyme to the chicken and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes, while you make the gnocchi.

4. Add salt and gnocchi to the boiling water and cook them according to the package directions. Drain. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Melt the butter and brown it (til it smells nice and nutty). Add the drained gnocchi to the browned butter. Raise the heat to medium high and lightly brown the gnocchi. Season the gnocchi with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and add the chives. Toss and remove from heat.

5. Adjust the seasonings on the chicken with figs. If you would like a little more sauce, add another half cup of stock to the pan. Serve the chicken and figs in shallow dishes, the gnocchi piled in the center of the bowl on top of the chicken. Garnish with the crisp pancetta/bacon sticks.

One Of My Favorite (Easy) Things

Yes, I'm on a blog roll! Chris is gone for this entire holiday weekend so he's left me alone to post lots of recipes without him pestering me to cook him things (in truth I'm lonely. really lonely). Sooo anyhoo, here is fabulous, healthy side dish that you can make with supermarket green beans that are clearly past their prime--Roasted Green Beans, from Cook's Illustrated. Don't do this recipe with fresh, crisp haricots verts--use this when you have raggedy old string beans from the bargain bin at Safeway.

As Cook's Illustrated helpfully explains, roasting the over-the-hill string beans produces deeply flavored, caramelized, crisp-on-the-outside and tender-on-the-inside green beans that are as poppable as french fries. The roasting also encourages the Maillard reaction, which gives the beans these beautiful dark brown spots. This recipe is also extremely healthy, as it only requires 1 tbsp of olive oil per 4-6 servings.

This roasting method is also fabulous with cauliflower--resulting in cauliflower "popcorn"--and I'll likely post that recipe sometime in the near future as well!

1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped off
1 tbsp olive oil
Table salt and black pepper
(yes, that's it!!)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; spread beans across the foil. Drizzle with oil; using hands, toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt, toss to coat, and distribute in an even layer. Roast 10 minutes

2. Remove baking sheet from oven. Using tongs, redistribute beans (or just shake the pan, if you are lazy like me). Continue roasting until beans are dark golden brown in spots and have started to shrivel, 10-12 minutes longer.

3. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, transfer to serving bowl, and serve.