Pasta master (or all that jazz, baby)

Recipes: Linguini carbonara with cauliflower and pancetta, Spaghetti with mussels and white beans, Lamb ragu Abruzzi-style

When I feel like pasta, which is often, I'm willing to try new things. Magazine photos beckon and favorite cookbooks may get left behind. Sometimes I'm disappointed. In fact, it seems most of the time I'm disappointed when I try new pasta recipes from magazines and newspapers, and then I go skittering back to my old tried-and-true favorites. But once in awhile I run across a real gem, a Keeper, and then I tear that page out and put it in the Big Purple File where loose recipes live on my cookbook shelf.

 

The next two recipes are Keepers. The first comes from Real Simple magazine, and the second from Bon Appetit magazine. Both are gorgeous, and I haven't altered the recipes much except to size them for two people instead of four.

 

The third recipe, the one for ragu, comes from a tried-and-true source, Marcella Hazan. It's a variation on a more well-known ragu called Bolognese that takes hours to make and involves a relatively expensive array of meats. This one, thankfully, is made in about 45 minutes with just lamb and produces a sauce that is equal to the earthy, satisfying flavor of the more complicated version. Yum, yum, yum!

 

This all makes me hungry. It also reminds me of a thought I read in another blog, where the blogger was justifying her tendency to keep trying new variations of a recipe even when she already liked the recipe she had. It fits for us too:

Recipes aren't precious. They're not written in stone like a commandment. A recipe is more like a poem set to music. And the music? Jazz, baby.

 

Hey, let's cook some pasta!
 

Linguine Carbonara with Cauliflower and Pancetta

Total time to make: 30 minutes

• 1/3 pound linguine or other long pasta
• 2 ounces pancetta or 3 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs, beaten with a fork
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces) 

 

Bring a large pot of water to the boil for the pasta. Add a generous tablespoon of sea salt to the water. Cook the pasta until it is al dente (taste it to determine when it is done), and reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta. Return pasta to the pot.

 

Meanwhile, brown the chopped pancetta or bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, tossing it occasionally, until it is crisp (about 8 minutes). Transfer it to paper towels to drain.

 

Add the oil, cauliflower, 1/3 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to the drippings in the skillet. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, covered, until the water has evaporated and the cauliflower is almost tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Uncover and cook, tossing occasionally, until golden brown and tender, 4 minutes more.

 

Add the cooked cauliflower, the eggs, Parmesan, and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta and toss to coat, adding more cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce.

 

Grind additional pepper over to taste. Enjoy!
 

Spaghetti with Mussels and White Beans

 Total time to make: about 30 minutes

•  1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 14-oz. can chopped or whole peeled tomatoes
• 1/2 pound spaghetti
• sea salt
• 1 14-oz. can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded if necessary
• A handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Heat butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown, about 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes with juices, crushing them lightly with your hands if they are whole tomatoes. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook stirring often, until sauce thickens, 10 - 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining the pasta.

Add beans and wine to the tomato sauce. Cook, stirring often, until the wine has almost evaporated, about 4 minutes.

Add the cooked pasta and 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water to the sauce and stir to coat. Top the pasta with the mussels and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mussels open. This should take about 4 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open.

Stir well, so that the sauce coats the pasta. Divide between two bowls, ensuring plenty of mussels make it into each bowl. Drizzle with oil, garnish with chopped parsley, and enjoy!
 

Lamb Ragu Abruzzi-Style

Abruzzo is a region of central Italy, bordering on the Adriatic Sea. Although it is geographically in the center, for purposes of food and politics it is considered more a part of southern Italy. Marcella Hazan writes "...in Italy one might say that the cow of the lower central and southern regions, for both rich and poor, is lamb." This dish uses lamb, cut fine with a knife rather than ground. My suggestion is that you sharpen up your best cleaver or cook's knife and do it that way if you can manage it. If not, ground lamb would be a viable option.

• 1/3 pound boneless lamb, any cut that is not too lean (like lamb shoulder, lamb for stew, or shoulder chops, boned)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 ounce pancetta, chopped very fine (1 slice thick bacon could be substituted)
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped rosemary leaves
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped or cut up if whole
• 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1/2 pound dried penne or other shaped pasta

Trim away any gristle, but none of the fat, from the lamb. Cut the meat into very, very fine dice.

Put the oil and the onion in a 10-inch skillet and turn on the heat to medium high. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion becomes colored a pale gold.

Add the pancetta and rosemary, turning them over with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring from time to time, until the pancetta's fat has melted, but do not let it crisp.

Add the diced lamb, turning it all over and cooking until the meat has been browned. Add salt and black pepper, turning the contents of the pan over again two or three times with a wooden spoon.

Add the wine and let it simmer until it has completely evaporated.

Add the tomatoes and cook at a steady but gentle simmer, stirring from time to time, for about 15 minutes.

Cook the pasta in an ample amount of boiling salted water. Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining it. Toss the cooked pasta immediately with the lamb sauce, using a bit of the pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed (warm the ragu before tossing if necessary). Stir in half the grated cheese, and bring the rest of the cheese to the table in a small bowl on the side.

Buon appetito, Pasta Master!