PASTA WITH CAULIFLOWER

Cauliflower needs more love.  Americans tend to damn it to side-dish oblivion.  Boiled to a bland mush, cauliflower loses most of its flavor.  Sadder still, what little taste is left then gets entombed in molten cheese sauce.  This recipe aims to lift cauliflower out of its Velveeta-drowned purgatory.

When pan-fried, cauliflower caramelizes.  High heat salvages the florets' crunch, drawing out the sweetness sapped by boiling.  If you hate cauliflower, give this recipe a whirl and see if you still find it icky.

In much of Rome, the cavolfiore romanesco is a comical and common sight.  Looking like a mad botanist's creation, it's sort of broccoli and sort of cauliflower. Bright green, the romanesco variety first emerged in Italy during the 1600s.  Its texture is spongy like cauliflower but, once cooked, presents a greener taste more akin to everyday broccoli.

This dish combines market-variety cauliflower and the more alien-looking romanesco.  If you can't find romanesco, plain old cauliflower is more than up to the task. Porous florets happily sop up the oil, vinegar and lemon juice dressing. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 small head of white cauliflower
• 1 small romanesco cauliflower
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional)
• 6-8 pitted olives, chopped
• Red pepper flakes to taste
• 1 - 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 8 oz of penne

Wash and core the cauliflower, keeping the individual florets intact as much as possible.  For instructions on coring a cauliflower, go here: how to cut a cauliflower.  Slice the florets in half or in quarters.  Cauliflower browns best when cut with one or more flat sides.  The flat surface will touch the hot pan and caramelize.  Uncut florets will may turn soggy and be hard to brown.

While the water is boiling, heat 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a flat skillet over medium-high. Depending on size, you might need more oil.  When the pan is hot (but-not-smoking), add cauliflower slivers.  Quickly stir the so that all the pieces are coated in oil.  :: Stop stirring ::.  In order to brown, the cauliflower needs to be in sustained direct contact with the hot pan.  Wait 3-4 minutes or until the cauliflower has begun to brown.  Continue cooking until browned all over.  Remove the florets and set aside.

Cook the penne in 3 quarts of salted water.   In the same pan that you cooked the cauliflower, heat another 2 tablespoons of oil.  Add the garlic, olives, capers, red pepper flakes and anchovy, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.  Cook over medium heat for another 2 minutes -- you will begin to smell the aromatic garlic and the vinegary tang of the capers.
 

When the garlic starts to caramelize, return the browned florets to the pan.  Lower heat and gently mix together, making sure that the garlic and olives and capers get evenly distributed.  Dress the florets at this point with the lemon juice and balsamic.  Keep cooking for 2-3 minutes over low heat -- or until the juice and vinegar have been absorbed.  Toss the cooked pasta together in the pan with the dressed cauliflower. Serve hot.  

PASTA ALLA CARBONARA

Pecorino and pepper is well and good most days.  But, sometimes, you want pig with your pasta.  Spaghetti alla carbonara is fail-safe answer to such suine-y cravings. 

Mixing pan-crisped pancetta, nutty parmigiano and creamy yolks, carbonara is everyday fare in Rome.  This quick pasta can be prepped at home in little time and with just a few ingredients.

Although many U.S. restaurants use smoked bacon or cream in this dish, the Roman version is made only with cheese, yolk and cured pork.  Unlike American bacon, pancetta is not smoked.  Instead, the pork is air-dried for months, wrapped in a coat of salt and spices.  It's still satisfyingly unctuous but won't make your whole meal taste like mesquite.

The key to carbonara is good  ingredients -- sun-yellow yolks, real parmigiano reggiano and salt-cured pig.  Avoid pre-grated "parmesan" sold in the store, as the cheese tends to lose its taste not long after grating.  Instead, buy a hunk of parmigiano and grate the cheese just before you prep the dish.

Once the spaghetti has cooked, toss the still-steaming pasta with the slurry of cheese, pepper and  yolks.  The hot pasta will cook the egg mixture and melt the cheese, thickening into a sauce.  Be sure to toss the pasta and egg and cheese in the same pan where you fried the pancetta. Rendered pork fat adds a smooth texture to your finished sauce and gives the dish its signature creaminess.      

 INGREDIENTS:
    •    8 oz of spaghetti or tonnarelli
    •    4 or 5 oz of pancetta, cubed
    •    3/4 to 1 cup of freshly grated parmigiano
    •    3 or 4 egg yolks
    •    Black pepper, fresh ground 

Lightly beat the yolks together with a fork.  Add the grated cheese to the egg mixture, stirring until you have a thick slurry.   Grind a healthy heaping of black pepper into the eggy/cheesy mix -- 5-7 twists on the pepper mill.  Cook the spaghetti meanwhile in 3 quarts of salted water.

Photo from: http://4.bp.blogspot.com

While the pasta is cooking, render the pancetta. Crisp the cured pork cubes over medium-low heat, waiting until the fat has rendered. You may need to pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the pan before browning to avoid sticking.  If the heat is too high, the pork will burn and not render. KEEP THE RENDERED FAT IN THE PAN. Pancetta, remember, is not American bacon. We want that grease. Once crisped, turn off the heat but leave pancetta in the frying pan.
                                                       

 

Remove the pasta from the hot water with a slotted spoon, reserving at least 1/2 cup of starchy pasta water in the spaghetti pot.  DO NOT RUN THE PASTA UNDER COLD WATER.  It needs to be steaming hot.  Toss the hot spaghetti in the frying pan that holds the crisped pancetta.  If the rendered fat has begun to solidify again, the hot pasta should re-melt it.  When the cubes are evenly mixed throughout the pasta, pour the cheesy/yolky mix over the pasta and vigorously toss.

 The hot pasta will cook the yolks and form a sauce.  If sauce seems lumpy, add 1/4 a ladle of steaming pasta water and shake the pan to make sure the egg has coated all the pasta. Serve hot.

FRIED SQUASH BLOSSOMS

When in Bologna, try the meat sauce. When in Florence, nosh on salami. When in Rome, eat fried food. Both hostarie (fancy-pants restaurants) and pizzerias with vinyl tablecloths serve up fried antipasti in Rome. Conventionally, the fritto misto alla romana is a mix of battered-n-fried veggies and meaty odds and ends (sweetbreads, brain, spinal chord). Romans may love their innards. Visitors, well, not so much.

 Despite purists' complaints, most restaurants now offer less offal-heavy options: fiori di zucca (fried squash blossoms), olive ascolane (olives stuffed and fried), frittelle di baccalà (salt cod fritters) and mozzarelline fritte (fried mozzarella balls). During the summers, markets in Rome abound with baskets of orange and green zucchini flowers. Restaurants and home cooks buy bags of them and either fry them or serve them sauteed in olive oil over a bed of pasta.

Although other regions in Italy stuff zucchini flowers with ricotta or cured meat, Roman-style fiori di zucca are always made with a lone anchovy and a small bit of mozzarella. Once filled, they get dipped in a yeasty batter and fried -- preferably in vegetable or light (not extra virgin) olive oil.

In a frying pan, pour 3-4 inches of oil and heat to 375 degrees.  If you don't have a frying thermometer, you can test the oil temperature by putting a little drop of the batter in the heated oil. If it sizzles and floats to the surface, it's ready.  If not, keep heating.  Fry the blossoms for 2 min.  They should be crispy & lightly golden on all sides. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and serve immediately.  

 INGREDIENTS:

* 10-15 zucchini flowers

* 2-3 eggs

* 1 cup flour

* 4 tablespoons of beer

* Vegetable oil sufficient for frying

* 1 fresh mozzarella ball sliced into thin strips

* Anchovy fillets (or none if you don't like the taste)

Wash the zucchini blossoms and gently pat them dry with a paper towel; remove the tough and spiny base of the flower. Be careful -- it can be prickly and stick to your fingers.  Then, place a thin sliver of mozzarella in each flower and, if you want, one small anchovy. Do not to over-stuff.  Cheese melts during frying but we want it inside the blossom and not oozing out.  Set aside the filled blossoms.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs (yolks and whites) with a fork. Bit by bit, sift the flour in, stirring constantly to avoid clumps.  Once your pastella is the consistency of thick pancake batter, add the beer and whisk.  Dip the flowers in batter, letting any extra pastella drip off.

CACIO E PEPE - CHEESY BLACK PEPPER PASTA

If you go to any trattoria in Rome -- whether expensive, touristy or a hole-in-the-wall -- you'll face the same choice: which pasta dish to get?  In a typical Roman joint, pasta gets served one of four (at most five) ways:  alla carbonara (eggs, grated cheese and pancetta), all'amatriciana (tomato, red pepper flakes, guanciale -- like pancetta), all'arrabbiata (spicy tomato sauce) or al cacio e pepe.

In Roman dialect, cacio means cheese.  Pepe is Italian for black pepper. Traditionally served with spaghetti or tonarelli (a fresh pasta thicker than spaghetti), cacio e pepe is Roman food at its most minimal and delicious.  To prepare this recipe, you simply mix the freshly-cooked pasta (still hot) with grated pecorino romano and a few hefty twists of black pepper.  In order make sure the cheese evenly melts over the pasta, add a ladle of hot pasta water before tossing it all together.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 - 1.5 cups of finely grated pecorino romano

* 8 oz. of spaghetti cooked

* 1-2 tbs of fresh-ground black pepper

       

          WATCH:   CHEF MARK LADNER DEMOS "CACIO E PEPE"

  
Cook the spaghetti al dente in 3 quarts of salted water.  Once cooked, remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the pasta water still in the pan.  Do not pour the water down the drain.   Transfer the spaghetti to a large sautee / frying pan.  Coat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ladle in about 1/2 cup to 3/4 of a cup of the hot and starchy pasta water.  Warm the pan with pasta, water and oil over very low heat.

 Now, add both the fresh ground black pepper and grated pecorino to the still-hot pasta.  *Grate the pecorino when the water is coming to a boil -- so you have all of it ready to mix in.*  Quickly, toss the pasta, cheese, water and pepper.  Briefly heat this trio over a low flame until all the cheese has melted.  The starchy water, when mixed with melting cheese, will form a creamy glaze that coats the pasta.  Serve immediately.