Baked garlicky mac and cheese

19 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by Zoli in cheese, comfort food, kids, pasta, the basics, Vegetarian

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Well, in this case, fusilli and cheese, but what a mouthful to say. In truth, like most people, I use whatever pasta strikes my fancy and I use whatever cheese I feel like too! If I was trying really hard, yes, I would get out the pecorino and mature cheddar and maybe some gruyere. I would sprinkle homemade breadcrumbs atop the glistening pasta noodles and garnish with fresh basil. But this isn’t that kind of party. This is my son’s favorite food and something he requests (but doesn’t quite get) every week. So this is my speedy version. And what I’m offering is more of a guideline rather than a set-in-stone recipe.

Few things to bear in mind for really good baked pasta and cheese IMHO. Don’t overcook the pasta. (Never overcook pasta. That’s just… the worst.) Make the sauce extremely cheesy. Make a lot of sauce–enough for the pasta to absorb it in the oven and still be creamy. Any leftover cheese sauce can be frozen.

1. Boil salted water and cook the pasta al dente. As I read somewhere, add enough salt so that it’s like sea water. This is actually a key step in having delicious pasta on your plate. Strain the hot pasta and set aside.

2. Grate the cheese and get started on the bechamel or white sauce while the pasta is cooking. I like a mix of strong cheeses, but tonight I used what I had–plenty of monterey jack, a little baby swiss, parmesan and mozzarella.

3. When melting the butter for the roux, toss in a smashed and chopped fat clove of garlic. Or smash it and rub it over the bottom of the baking tray. I prefer it to go right in the bechamel. When the butter has melted, add in a bit of flour and whisk. The roux should be the texture of wet sand. Cook it for a couple minutes to take out the flavor of the flour and add in milk, whisking to incorporate.

4. Heat up the milk but don’t boil it. Whisk every so often until it starts to thicken. Then add in the seasoning–plenty of salt and fresh ground pepper and some fresh grated nutmeg.

5. Add in the grated cheese and mix. Keep the heat low or turn it off as you are just melting the cheese. Taste to make sure it’s cheesy enough!

6. Mix the sauce in with the pasta, enough sauce that the whole thing seems too soupy. Cover with a layer of grated cheese and bake in the oven until the top is golden.

A bit of creamy cheesy pasta with a crunchy crust and chewy (not mushy) noodles can actually be pretty spectacular.

This humble dish is either the beginning or the end. Leave as is or add in jalapenos, broccoli florets, mushrooms, cream… Cover with bread crumbs and oregano… Anything to make it special. My favorite version is to drop dollops of homemade spicy chipotle and garlic cream over the top before baking.

Fresh tomato sauce

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Zoli in italian, kids, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, the basics, tomato sauce, Vegetarian

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basic red sauce, farmers market, fresh tomatoes, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, tomato sauce, tomatoes

My husband brought home a crate–a CRATE–of tomatoes from the farmers market. He purchased the lot for $10 but it was obvious the low price was due to their undeniably, indubitably overripe condition. What to do but make a tomato sauce? As I’ve written before, yummy and quick tomato sauce from a can of plum tomatoes will always suffice, but there is a differently delicious taste to be had with fresh sauce. And it’s not like it’s that much harder. You don’t need to watch it or nurture it or care for it in any way. You just need to be home.

What you will need:

Lots of tomatoes
1 or 2 onions (depending on how many tomatoes)
3-6 garlic cloves, crushed or sliced
Olive oil
splash of vinegar or wine
tbs sugar (optional)
fresh or dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil to finish

1. Peel, slice and chop an onion, or two onions if you are using as many tomatoes as I did. I used one very large onion for about 15 or 20 tomatoes. Some of my tomatoes had mold growing where they had split. I chopped that part off and used the rest.
Disclaimer! It is best to boil the tomatoes for a few seconds in order to peel them, and it is probably best to discard the pulp and seeds. Not my style though. Way too finicky for a weekday. In my sauce, it ALL goes in.
2. Smash a few plump garlic cloves with the flat of your knife and take off the peel. No need to chop what shall disintegrate after four hours of cooking.
3. Heat up a good glug of olive oil and gently fry the onion and garlic ‘for a spell’. When soft and translucent add in the mountain of tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.
4. Cook and cook and cook.
5. When things are beginning to resemble a tomato soup, add in the seasoning.
Depending on the kind of and flavor of tomatoes you may not need vinegar or wine for the tang, or sugar for the sweetness. I started with the basil and salt and pepper, then came back a half hour later, tasted and reassessed. A tbs of red wine vinegar went in, along with a tbs of sugar. After a little more simmering I could have eaten this stuff on its own. Just delicious.
But keep on cooking. You want the sauce to reduce as much as possible and get richer and richer. After about four hours I blitzed it with a hand-held blender, added a glug of extra virgin olive oil, and was pretty much done. I now have about 8 jars of sauce–most of them in my freezer. We’ve had it on pasta, roasted mushrooms, eggplant and pizza so far.