something coming soon.
When I can figure out how to get a list of the other posts in this category here, it will be. For now, just some pictures. =)
flickr stream.
Culinary Disaster, Late December 2005
Today, instead of making French Onion Soup, I spent most of the day hanging out with the D & D. I didn’t want to be a bad host, so I didn’t focus on my soup. D, my sister, and I did preserve some lemons, and I did pick up some French Onion Soup Bowls by Emile Henry ( ouch. there went a big chunk of Xmas funds ), but dinner was pasta. In the interest of sharing both good and bad experiences, I bring you the “Angry Pasta.” Of course, the new 14-inch Le Creuset skillet was the vessel for this experience. I love that pan.
This one is straight out of “Lidia’s Family Table,” page 128, Salsa Arrabbiata. It’s a tomato sauce with bacon, peperoncini, and onions. Here’s how the recipe goes.
I started with some olive oil and one and a half slices of Niman Ranch bacon. Once the bacon started to warm, I threw in an onion, sliced into half and quarter moons, quarter inch thick, and 3 bay leaves from my little tree by the front door. When the bacon looked like it was starting to brown, I added 3 chopped peperoncinis. A couple of minutes later, I poured in one 28 ounce can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes and about a cup of water from my pasta pot. I sprinkled in some Brittany grey salt, and set the thing to medium heat. Once my pasta was ready, I added some pasta water, the penne ricate and after cooking it for a couple of minutes I served it, grated some parmigiano over it and a little fresh ground pepper. It looked beautiful. If I hadn’t been late, I would have stepped outside and cut some fresh Italian parsley for it.
Now Niman Ranch is, as far as I’m concerned, the gold standard for what a farm should be. Their animal husbandry rules are on their website, and quite strict and ambitious. This bacon is phenomenal, when eaten as bacon. However, as I’m learning, when it is used in dishes like this, the smokey Applewood flavor is overwhelming. It completely permeates the dish, and overpowers all the other flavors you have worked so hard for.
J took a couple of bites, declared that not only did she not like this dish, but she was uninterested in me cooking any other tomato sauces with bacon in them. This was not going well. Frankly, I couldn’t disagree with her, given the power of the bacon in this sauce.
At the end of the day, she ate almost as much bread with peanut butter as pasta. Not a good sign for the Tuscan Housewife. A true culinary disaster. Onion soup to come Thursday.
posted to In the Kitchen, at 02:13 PM. permalink
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