The CookingBites recipe challenge: pasta

ElizabethB said:
I guess I am a geek. I like the science behind a recipe. Understanding the science behind ingredients and methods makes me a better cook/baker.
I love Marcella Hazan's cookbook. She has an entire chapter on what herbs play well well together and what herbs work best with a tomato sauce or a butter/oil sauce. My mind is blown. I have been doing so many things the American way instead of the Italian way.
My go to baking site is @sallysbakingaddiction.com. She explains the science behind her ingredients and methods. The first time I try a new recipe on her site I always read the article before jumping to the recipe. Understanding the science allows me to apply that knowledge to other dishes.
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Yep me too. Gimme all the details. Once you understand something right down to the minutia you can apply it elsewhere more effectively for better results.

I really don't enjoy chefs who are all "just do it this way" with no proper explanation of why.
Especially as some chefs seem to adore making recipes unnecessarily complicated, why have five steps when you can have ten and use far more pans? 😂
If theres a reason it should be done a specific way then tell us and all the little tips and tricks you picked up along the way too!

I jump to the recipe to read the ingredients and method, if I like the combination I'll go back and read all the detail. It's surprising just how much of that detail comes in handy later with other dishes.
 
TastyReuben said:
Have you tried watching one of his Kenji At Home videos, where he cooks something and records it with a camera on his head?

Geez, it’s annoying! He jerks his head in every direction…I don’t think he ever stops moving it, and not only does it induce motion sickness, you can never really tell what he’s doing, because it’s rarely pointed at one thing long enough to be helpful.
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Yes, I have. Well, parts of a few of them. I can't watch a whole JKLA video. It makes my brain hurt.

CD
 
TastyReuben said:
First part of my initial recipe is to make some spicy sundried tomato “pâté”

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I normally refuse to make a recipe that directs me to a pre-recipe recipe, though this one didn’t do that, it simply assumed I could go to my local market and buy some, which I can’t, so I’m in a forgiving mood today, I suppose.
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Did you post that recipe? It sounds really good.
 
TastyReuben said:
I know, at least in his heyday, that it was a capital offense to say anything negative about food science geek Alton Brown, but I always felt the same way about his stuff - save the science for the lab, just tell me how to make it.

…which leads me to one of my all-time favorite quotes (as someone who’s generally not a “details” person): “I don’t need to know how a clock works, I just need to know what time it is.”
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I did like Alton Browns early videos where he used a lot of props and sock puppets to explain the science. Not necessary, but it was entertaining. Then he got more serious, dropped the goofy stuff, and his shows became more like lectures. He lost me with that.

CD
 
My first one:

Recipe - Penne w/ sundried tomato sauce & fresh basil

Kicking it off with something basic, straightforward, and tasty.

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As I’ve mentioned with pizzas, I really like intense, thick, tomatoey sauces, and this delivers.

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Now at first, you might look at this and think, “There’s not much sauce there,” but that’s what makes this one deceptively delicious. The power is in those clumps of concentrated spicy sundried tomato paste (achieved through a separate recipe listed in this one). They pack a flavor punch!

Don’t think for a moment, though, that that’s where all the flavor is, because sautéing the paste, along with some additional chopped sundried tomatoes and garlic, releases a good bit of the flavored tomato oil, which along with the olive oil used to cook all this up, gets pulled into the hot penne as soon as it’s added to the pan. It really is quite flavorful.

Penne in spicy sundried tomato sauce

Penne in spicy sundried tomato sauce


Penne in spicy sundried tomato sauce

Penne in spicy sundried tomato sauce

 
TastyReuben said:
Now at first, you might look at this and think, “There’s not much sauce there,”
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As you mention, sundried tomatoes are intense. I started making my own back in the 90s, when sundried tomatoes were all the rage, and every recipe on FoodTV had SDT in it :cool: One advantage of living in the Tropics is that you can easily "sun dry" tomatoes when the average temperature is in the 80s every day!
After a few overly-intense tomato dishes, I began to understand how a little of something special is more than enough!
 
medtran49 said:
I am going to be using
View attachment 109648

later today. It's fun turning the handle, hearing the clicks and watching the cavatelli pop out ready to cook. We haven't used this in ages.
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You know the saying “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight?” - I feel like I’ve got a sharpened wooden stick and you just rolled up with a cannon! :wink:
 
TastyReuben said:
You know the saying “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight?” - I feel like I’ve got a sharpened wooden stick and you just rolled up with a cannon! :wink:
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Nah, it's just a cute little novelty. Not even expensive. It was well under $30 even at the Italian market, where everything is more expensive, back when we bought it.
 
I have worked out a contribution. I will top off the ingredient list on Wednesday and create a Pork Lasagna. My wife used to make a really nice veggie and ricotta lasagna. I will take it a step further and add ground pork and a few other things that will surprise her. Ground beef is out because of her allergy to it so it will be a kicked up version of her recipe with pork.
 
:banghead: I have been working on a spaghetti frittata. My first attempt was inedible. Tossed it. My second attempt was edible but not competition worthy. I made a 1/2 recipe, ate a wedge and tossed the rest. I vow to conquer a lovely spaghetti frittata recipe.

:hyper: the concept is so simple. The execution is another issue.
I will not be defeated.
 
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