Spaghetti, Subways...and Apples

I find that more often than not, I make pasta either for or with my dinner. It's usually due to forgetting to defrost some meat before leaving for work and not wanting to take the time to make rice. Tonight's inspiration came as I was watching Everyday Italian last night. Giada made a really simple pasta dish that looked delicious and I instantly got food envy. It even has a simple name: Spaghetti with Olives and Bread Crumbs.

As the spaghetti cooked I chopped some black olives (the recipe recommends using kalamata - which I don't have - as well as green olives, which I'm not in love with, so black olives sufficed) and heated some olive oil over medium heat. In the process, I was also talking on the phone, looking at the recipe, and being distracted in general, so I didn't realize just how high the heat was on the oil. When I added my bread crumbs in to toast them, it was instant brown.

It wasn't burned brown, just...brown. According to the recipe, it should've taken two minutes for this to occur. I immediately removed it from the heat, allowing the residual heat to continue toasting the bread crumbs, then added my pasta to the mixture.

Since Giada recommended reserving some of the pasta water (due to its starch content), I attempted to get all the pasta out with tongs, which was fairly successful. The bit of water that I did ad actually helped to evenly distribute the breadcrumbs, who knew? I finished it by stirring in some parmesan cheese and some pepper.

The result was great! Not necessarily mind-blowing, but a good amount of flavor for few ingredients. As Giada mentioned on the show, you won't need to add more salt considering the bread crumbs and olives have enough themselves, especially if you opt for the green as well. You're also supposed to finish it with fresh parsley, but I only had dried herbs...and I kind of forgot about that step until just now. Regardless, I was satisfied.

[image courtesy of pinterest]

Another interesting find today is pictured above: Apple Nachos. Being the dessert freak that I am with a hint of a health nut, I'm stoked about these. It's sliced apples, topped with melted peanut butter, slivered almonds and chocolate chips. I find nothing wrong with this...and intend on trying it in the near future.

As for city living, today got off to a rough start. Turns out I can't keep track of 30 days use of a Metrocard and had the oh so embarrassing moment of trying to board the bus with an expired card. I did have cash on me, but decided to just get off the bus so as not to hold the line up any longer and walked to the LIRR stop instead. Once inside Penn Station I was able to make my way to the A,C & E trains to get a new card for the month. I wasn't late to work thankfully, but was definitely flustered. Luckily my day went well and I was introduced to a delicious sandwich at Gourmet Garage.

This weekend I head upstate to the land of Stewarts stores and considering all my trips are centered around food, I'm sure I'll have much to report and possibly more pictures to post!

Caliente!!

Forgive the cross-cultural reference in the title, but I don't know how to say "spicy" in Italian. Unfortunately, I won't know how to say it for awhile considering my crazy schedule for next semester won't allow me to take Italian :(

Tonight I explored another tomato sauce...Spicy Tomato Sauce! According to Ms. Di Laurentiis, this sauce is also known as "all'arrabbiata" which translates to "in the angry style." It's an angry sauce. Mine wasn't quite as hot as I may have liked it, but it packed a nice punch. And this is how I made it.

I started by sauteing some chopped onion and garlic for about three minutes in some EVOO. I've gotten very good at trying to keep my hands garlic-smell-free and am proud to say that despite the enormous size of the clove I used, my hands only smell like my Lime Basil kitchen soap :) I next added some chopped black olives, capers, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes.

I tried not to go overboard on the red pepper flakes, but I think my sauce could have used more. I would classify it as a "mild medium" sauce. I could've kicked it all the way up to "hot," but I didn't want to overpower the other flavors the first time making it.

Next, I added some crushed tomatoes and let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes while I cooked some penne. I use spaghetti or angel hair pasta more often than any other form, so I had forgotten how much longer it takes to cook other types. Luckily, I started cooking it early enough that it was ready at about the same time as the sauce.

As I said before, the sauce wasn't as spicy as I would have liked, but it was great nonetheless. The tomatoes weren't overpowered by the red peppers and the olives and capers made it a little salty. The penne was Giada's suggestion which, as expected, was perfect for this sauce. The bigger pasta scooped up more sauce than something like spaghetti could.

I must say, thus far the sauces from the "Everyday Sauces" section have been pretty quick (with the exception of the marinara sauce that needs at least an hour) which is nice considering a college student like myself doesn't have all the time in the world to cook. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing like a sauce that took an entire day to cook, but these ones have been just as good and I can eat them sooner!!

The next update will be Thursday with another pasta dish! Can't wait!

Olive Juice

This.....was fantastic. Not only was it quick, but it was extremely easy, and extremely flavorful. Tonight I made Giada's Tomato Sauce with Olives--the second recipe from the "Everyday Sauces" chapter in the "Everyday Tomato Sauces" section. The recipe requires four cups of her Marinara sauce which I highly recommend making the night before.

As I said in my post from last night, I made the Marinara sauce again much more successfully this time. I didn't forget any ingredients and managed to sustain only one minor injury. On top of all this, I didn't have to leave my room to make it (take a bow electric frying pan) and was able to watch BOTH So You Think You Can Dance and Glee. After making the sauce, I stored it in the fridge over night (I only had to make a half batch this time so I made it fit in one container).

The sauce, as expected, was even better the next day (I snuck a taste around lunchtime) so I was really excited to add a new dimension to it. For this sauce, you start by sauteing one and 1/4 cup of olives in 1/4 cup of olive oil. Me being the food cop that I am swapped out actual olive oil for EVOO spray, and only used six ounces of olives...because that's all that came in the can i had bought. I should also mention that you need to halve the olives before sauteing them. To this, you add one and 1/2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper (gotta love that spice!) and cook it for three minutes. After that, you reduce the heat, and add the marinara sauce.

As I let this heat, I ventured upstairs to cook some spaghetti to go with the sauce. I thought I was on the right track seeing as I even brought a lid for the pot with me this time. I let the water come to a boil, measured out the proper amount of pasta, and added it to the water (which I also remembered to salt!). I never break spaghetti before adding it to the pot and rarely have issues with it, until today. The spaghetti kept trying to escape the pot and I continuously tried to push it back in. It DID cooperate eventually, but some of it had hit the burner and created a kind of gross burning smell in the kitchen. I'm sure the kid that was doing his homework in there (yes, doing homework in the kitchen) was probably wondering how I managed to burn pasta, but it all worked out.

When I got back to my room, the sauce was heated all the way through and I drained my pasta. I had about a cup of pasta with a cup of sauce, and a little Pecorino Romano on top. This sauce...was money. It was much more rich in tomato flavor this time around, but still very fresh. The olives balanced out the richness with a bit of saltiness and the crushed red pepper gave it just enough spice. As I was eating it and re-reading the recipe, I realized I hadn't added the 1/2 of thinly sliced fresh basil, but then remembered I was feeling creative last night and had already added it then. The basil isn't very prominent in the sauce, but it keeps it light.

Again, dinner: successful. Tomorrow night is my first time attempting some semi-homemade pizza, and Sunday marks my next Giada mission. I will be delving back into the "Everyday Pasta, Polenta, and Risotto" with the Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Red Pepper Flakes recipe. YUM!