Sausage and Noodles

A good quality spicy sausage on top of pasta will always have a very special place in my heart. I love the heartiness of the sausage and could eat pasta all the time. The AC could probably never eat pasta again and not even think of it, so when he indulges me with the carb-loaded delishness, I swoon.

We really like Byerly's homemade sausages and bratwurst, the spicy Italian is fairly hot and perfect for this dish. The other key to this is the wide, quality egg noodles. These are not manaschevitz egg noddles. I took a picture of the bag so you'll know what to look for. We probably got these at Byerly's, I'm not sure. You're looking for a thick width. These noodles make kick-ass buttered noodles for those of you who appreciate simplicity and the perfection of a simple noodle, just add some butter, salt and fresh grated Parmesan. There's no need for anything more. Well, maybe a bit of cayenne. But I digress.

To recreate the rustic dish pictured above, you'll need the following ingredients. 

Good quality egg noodles, 6 oz dry
2 good quality hot Italian sausage links
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered and seeded. 
1/3 c fresh, flat leaf parsely, minced
1/8 c minced fresh oregano and thyme
3 finely minced garlic cloves
1/4 tsp kachai powder (found in most Asian groceries)
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1 tsp Aleppo chile (Penzies has a great version)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Cook sausage by boiling in a shallow pan for 10 minutes and cut each into eight pieces. Briefly saute the sausage pieces until nicely browned.  

Saute slowly the onion, garlic, 1 tbsp of the olive oil and all of the balsamic, black pepper, Aleppo and some salt, saute until it starts to caramelize.

Once the above is essentially cooked, mix in the herbs and the kachai.

Boil pasta with a little olive oil.

When cooked, drain, put back into sauce pan over med-low flame, coat the noodles with butter, add the onion mixture and tomatoes, mix thoroughly. Let it cook for about 1 minute. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Plate the pasta, add the sausage (which were kept warm in the frying pan that you used to saute the onion mix).

Do I Dare Say It? Holy Mole Ravioli... Well, Maybe Not But You Understand The Point

The UB can get into food ruts.  She frequently finds a food item, type of beer or mixed drink and keeps playing with it, like a cat with a toy, until she is bored and turns up her nose at it for the foreseeable future.  At that point, I have to find new catnip for her to sniff.  I, the AlphaChef on the other hand, usually flit from taste to taste like a teenager who thinks the next thing is always the greatest. This is why I love to play my gargantuan song collection on random.  Currently, the UB is on a roll with ravioli. I had my gaze on the Hungarian salami in the fridge.  If I am willing to combine Thai style curry with ravioli why would I stop at trying Hungarian flavors? And for the life of me I don't understand what happened.  I ended up with almost a Mexican mole. And it worked.

It worked really well. I guess that is the most important thing. Oh, and it was easy. 

Let's start with the sauce.  I tossed into a mini food processor (but a blender will work too) this laundry list:


1/8 tsp cayenne
3-4 oz of tomato paste
1 tsp fish sauce
1 garlic clove chopped
3-4 tablespoons good quality sweet paprika
1 c roasted sweet red bell pepper (roast over gas flame. by blow torch or buy them pre-roasted) chopped into medium sized chunks
1 oz of beef broth
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Technique Warning. OK. If you don't know how to roast a bell pepper in 3-4 minutes on your gas stove here's a technique:

Go to the store and buy roasted bell pepper in a bottle. Oops, sorry wrong instructions. Cut the red pepper  longitudinally in half. Remove the seeds and whitish parts of the pepper.  Lay the pepper skin down and flat on top of the rack that covers the gas burners so that the flame are under the pepper. Frequently, rotate the pepper until the pepper's skin become somewhat charred across the whole side. And then flip the peppers so the inside of the pepper is in the flame, continue with the same technique as before but the inside won't char - it will become slightly cooked = soft.

Blend all the above in the food processor until fully pureed. Oh my, that was difficult.

Now let's move on. Make sure you have this stuff too. You'll need it.

7 oz of beef broth (or the rest of the container)
Salt
Pepper

Bacon fat or some sort of oil such as olive oil

1 large shallot, sliced thin (about a half a cup - more is fine)
3 oz. julienne Hungarian style salami
Cheese ravioli about 12 -14 pieces
Peach liqueur
Sambuca

In pan which you can cover, melt bacon fat, add the sliced shallot, cover on medium heat for a couple minutes. The goal is to soften the shallot and not brown them. Add a splash of beef broth, cover again for another couple minutes, until fully softened. Add puree you made 5 minutes earlier and the rest of the beef broth, a bay leaf, 3 oz finely sliced Hungarian salami, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, a splash of sambuca, and a splash of peach liqueur (or in a pinch Cointreau, grand Marnier or triple sec). Put lid back on and simmer until the ravioli is fried.

As foreshadowed, its time to make the fried cheese ravioli.  I am assuming you are lazy like me and bought decent ravioli from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. I am going to give you different directions on how to cook the little squares of laziness. Generously coat a pan [which is large enough to space the placement of the pasta so all the raviolis are flat onto the pan's bottom. Hint: This is a technique tip] with olive oil and 1/8 inch water plus another tablespoon of olive oil, and bring it to a boil on high. Spread out the ravioli across the pan. Cook until water evaporates, and then drop the temperature to medium high. Continue to fry the bottom side of the ravioli until it is lightly brown and then flip in order to brown the other side.

Plate the ravioli, remove the bay leaf from the sauce and then cover the pasta with the sauce. Marvel how the hell did this sauce end up tasting like a mole?

And if you really want to garnish it, I would recommend sprinkling it with either pine nuts, chopped parsley or shards of broken beer bottle.  Did I just type that?

Penang Scallops & Mango with WHAT??? Cheese Ravioli? No Joke

Sometimes odd things just go together right. And when you start breaking down the individual components and compare them it all becomes clear.  Penang red curry with scallops, got that.  Scallops with cheese ravioli, sure. Curry and mango, like the beach and ocean. Mango and ravioli, the sweet ricotta cheese plays friendly with the sweet champagne mango. Penang curry with ravioli a riffing off curried noodles. See the connections. Oh, by the way I also added black beans for good measure.  Now your lesson is to connect the dots between Mexican and Asian food.

Now how to make it. It's so easy. You ain't gonna learn technique with this post. However, if you don't know how to cube a Mango let us know and I will post that technique.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoon of Penang curry paste (make your own or use store bought - Maesri is a good brand)
1 small shallot diced
1/2 lime
1 Thai chile pepper minced
1 cup diced fresh cilantro
1 half can of coconut milk about 7-9 oz.

1/2 red pepper sliced thin
1/3 cup if black beans (not rinsed but only strained. Because I used left overs from a Mexican dish the beans had a cumin based spice flavor)
1/4 smaller bay scallops
1 Champagne mango diced into small cubes
Store bought cheese ravioli (I used Pasta Prima brand)
Peanut oil


Da Sauce
Use a 1 qt sauce pan.  Coat with oil and bring to medium.  Saute the shallot and chile until the shallot is translucent. Add Penang curry paste and saute for 1 minute more.  Add the coconut milk and stir - then add the bell pepper.  Bring it up to a low boil - don't break the sauce. It can cook for 15 minutes or so, or until you are done frying the ravioli.  If it gets a little too thick add a bit more coconut milk or some water.

Scallops
Squeeze half the lime juice from the half of lime onto the scallops. Or the juice of 1/4 of a lime.  Which ever is easier for you to imagine. Do this anytime you have 30 seconds to think about it. 

Fried Ravioli
Boil the ravioli per the manufacturers instructions. I add about 1 tablespoon of salt and equivalent oil to the water too. While that is cooking heat a oiled large skillet to medium high.  Once the ravioli is cooked drain and pat them dry. Fry them on both sides until they are lightly golden. It takes about 2-3 minutes a side.

Back to da sauce
Just before you fry the ravioli, drop the mango and cilantro into the curry sauce. Stir. Bring up the heat a little bit to return it to a very low boil.

Back to the ravioli
Plate the ravioli once golden brown

Back to the sauce
Drop in the scallops and black beans.  Cook for 1-2 minutes more depending on the size of the scallops. Nickle sized scallops at room temperature take 1 minute to cook. Do Not Overcook The Scallops Unless You Like Eating Pencil Erasers.

Final plating
Once cooked through ladle the sauce onto the ravioli and squeeze on the remaining lime juice.

Eat and wonder how the hell this worked out so well.

Beta: Home Alone

Over the years the idea of being away from the AC for any length of time has evolved from the "missing you every moment, waiting by the phone" to "oh, good, the house to myself". I enjoy some time alone, in my house, without music, generally vegging out to Hulu.

I have been infamous in my malnutrition while the AC is away. Once, I subsisted on brie, crackers, olives, boxed wine and popcorn. And it was damn good. Of course, I felt way better when the AC came home and pumped actual nutrition into my diet, but there's something to say for a little bit of laziness.

My lack of nutrition when alone isn't because I can't cook, there's some element of rebellion to it. I have often wondered what level of cuisine I would settle on if left alone. I always assumed I'd have to find another chef to cook for me, should we part. But I have evolved. One staple at-home-alone meal for me was macaroni and cheese, yes, the boxed variety. I would fool myself and buy the Amy's, you know, the organic kind with the little bunny pasta, but it really tastes just as bad. Mac and cheese was something the AC wouldn't touch, that I could eat all alone without guilt. Then I added some kind of canned meat, usually chicken or salmon. This was my on-my-own staple, until I found orchietta pasta and tuna packed in olive oil. This elevated the whole mac and cheese concept to a new level of cooking.

It's so simple and easy, but tastes good, the perfect combination. The ingredients are simple: one portion orchietta pasta, one can of tuna packed in olive oil (Trader Joe's makes a really good one), leftover veggies-chopped, grated parmesan (no, not kraft, real parmesan), salt, black pepper and cayenne.  I cook the pasta, drain and remove from the sauce pan, then add to the same pan whatever chopped veggies we have around- helps relieve some of the guilt I was talking about earlier. I add a bit of olive oil from the tuna to cook the veggies, once soft I add the tuna with the rest of the olive oil, douse in salt, black pepper and cayenne and cook until warm, then I toss the pasta in and stir fry for about a minute. I then dump it all into a pasta bowl and cover with grated parmesan. For the version pictured here I used crimini mushrooms and black olives de provence.

So that leads us to the boxed wine. Yes, boxed wine. I'm assuming most of you have explored this new world of premium, not just for cheap parties, boxed wine. For me it has served a very specific purpose, namely, I'm home alone and want a glass of wine, but don't necessarily want to "drink alone"- a concept heavily frowned upon in the 12 step world. I've found that the white varieties are the most drinkable (with the exception of Chardonnay, never drink cheap Chardonnay), probably because it's chilled, but whatever. I have found that Sauvignon Blanc is usually the most drinkable. This brand, Silver Birch Sauvignon Blanc, is actually quite good, for a boxed wine. It's crisp, tangy, a tad sweet off dry.

So there you have it, the Ultimate Beta home alone, not so bad. Much better when the AC returns. But then usually I have had a couple days to decompress, enjoy the silence and eat enough junk to really appreciate what I have. I guess that's pretty perfect.

Esteban's Espaghetti

Hola. Yeah, not much is sacred in the AlphaChef's world of food. A few years back, I made a twisted version of Mexican Chorizo Noodles and now its one of UB's favorite comfort foods.  I love it because its even easier to cook than getting a Republican to explode "That's not American!". Of course its American. We live in a melting pot of cultures and cuisine. I bang a Mexican dish against Italian, add a 'titch' of Thai and we get American Food. So there. If you don't like it go back to your walled compound.

Doing my patriotic duty, I first take one can of diced tomatoes and plop it, without draining, into a blender. I also add 1/2 chopped white onion, 2 chopped cloves of garlic, black pepper to taste, 1 tsp of fish sauce, 1/2 tsp of roasted ground coriander seed, 1/4 tsp of roasted ground anise and 1/4 tsp of roasted ground cumin.  Sometimes I also add handful of fresh parsley. Sometimes I add 2 chipotle peppers and other times I add couple of Thai chiles. I blend the cultural mish-mash into a puree. We'll deal with the stuff later.

For the next step, I use a large skillet that I can put a top on. Its about 14 inches across and 4-5 inches deep. I take 1/2 pound of fresh ground chorizo and massage it into a 1/2 pound of fresh ground hot Italian sausage. In the fifties, this would have gotten you lynched in NYC. We have come a long way baby.  And no, I have never been a member of the Communist party unless they cooked really great food.  Heat a skillet on medium to medium high, add enough oil to coat and then cook the mixed-background sausage through. Make sure it doesn't burn and chop it up so it stays in little pieces of loose meat. After it's thoroughly cooked, remove the meat and try to keep all that good, flavorful oil in the pan. Now, brown 1/2 pound of dry fettuccine or linguine pasta in the oil. I usually need to break the pasta in half to get it to fit into the pan. I typically do this in two batches. Once complete, remove the pasta.

Pour the pureed tomatoes and goodness into the pan. Keep stirring for the next couple of minutes until you think its cooked through. When you hit that point, and if you don't have a good vent, you've had a good cry from the onions and chiles, pour in about 16oz of chicken stock and about 8 oz of cheap Italian, French, Australian, Californian, or Chilean white wine. It can be a blend for all it matters. But no. I repeat, but no. Never sweet white wine. Yuck. Bring it to a boil. Once its boiling, add the pasta. Make sure you have enough liquid to easily cover all the pasta. Cover it for about 5 minutes and turn the flame down just enough so it doesn't boil over. Don't ask me how low. I don't know your stove. Just enough to keep boiling without boiling over. If you can't figure that out, run for Congress and call yourself Michele Bachmann. Maybe I shouldn't make that joke. I am losing my appetite.

After the 5 minutes have passed, take the lid off and add the meat and perhaps 1/2 of a finely sliced red bell pepper if its laying around and about to go bad. Mix it all in. Turn the heat down a bit more.  You want the liquid to boil off without causing everything to stick to the bottom of the dish.  If I didn't do it already, I sometimes add a 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro or parsley too. You want to cook this until it's almost dry. This means for the last few minutes you gotta keep moving it around. Also known as stirring or playing with your food.

Once cooked to the point its almost dry, plate it up.  I typically garnish with a bit of chopped cilantro or parsley, crumbled queso fresco, feta or chevre, sliced avocado and a squeeze of lime.

Eat. Feel good about yourself. And don't elect selfish, xenophobic idiots into office.

Chicken "Scampi" with Angel Hair

As promised, the recipe for the leftover chicken. Don't recognize it, do you?

Shred the chicken you have leftover from the fabulous roasted chicken you made. In a frying pan with olive oil, add 1 small, thinly sliced red bell pepper, 1-1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, cook until softened and add two cloves minced garlic. Add 1 large thin sliced shallot and 1 tbsp butter until garlic is soft, add crushed red pepper if desired for heat. Stir in shredded chicken, a handful of diced parsley, mix and cook on low heat. Add black pepper to taste. Cook angel hair pasta according to directions, top with chicken and vegetables mixture and add Parmesan, toss to coat noodles with oil. There you go, wasn't too hard was it? And you didn't have to waste any chicken.

Cold Szechuan Noodles and Steamed Haddock with Ginger

The Cold Szechuan Noodles are my favorite thing to get at the Tea House: http://ourteahouse.com/ in fact, my chef knows that if he goes here for lunch with friends and doesn't bring me take out noodles, there's hell to pay. Last night we decided to try making them at home. I started with Korean noodles I found at United Noodle (the best asian grocery store in town) http://www.unitednoodles.com/catalog2/. The noodles should be fresh or refrigerated and about 1/8 inch thick. Cook the noodles according to directions, about 4 minutes, you want them to be chewy. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and toss with sesame oil. In a bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp sesame oil, 3-1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 2 tbsp Chinese sesame paste (not the same as tahini, it can be found at United Noodle), 1 tbsp creamy peanut butter, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp finely grated ginger and chili garlic paste, we also added extra crushed red pepper for more heat. Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with cucumber, orange bell pepper and crushed peanuts. Enough for 4 people. Use processed, rather than natural peanut butter, you'd think the natural would be better, but it's not. In fact, Cook's Illustrated recently named Jif the best for cooking. We'll add protein, probably chicken, in the future.

Steamed Haddock with Ginger- we made too much food. We needed a protein to go with the noodles so I stopped by Coastal Seafoods after United Noodle (right across the street), http://www.coastalseafoods.com/locations they were out of cod, so I got haddock. We use an Asian bamboo steamer, it's really easy. Simply put the fish in the steamer, top with finely sliced ginger, place in a pot with boiling water covering the bottom and steam for 5-7 minutes. The chef then created a sauce mixed with both dark and light soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, 1tbsp of peanut oil, heat almost to smoking and pour it over the fish. He topped the fish with the ginger, scallions and cilantro.

We topped the meal off with a sparkling wine, perfectly complementing the peanut and spice of the noodles as well as the delicately flavored fish. This wine came highly recommended by one of our favorite local liquor stores, the SAV http://www.stanthonyvillagewineandspirits.com/ and proved that you cannot judge a wine by its bottle- look at it, it's horrendous! It's called "Sparkling 9.5 Cold Wine" and was very, very nice, crisp, not too sweet, very nicely balanced. We recommend. Bon Appetit!

We always eat what we kill!