C2I recipe: The ultimate pasta dish

My favorite C2I meal is the multicourse Italian meal. The courses are antipasto, pasta (primo), grilled meats and veggies (secondi), salad (insalata), and dessert. In such a meal, the pasta is part of a harmonized system and rarely has big globs of meat or buckets of sauce and cheese smothering the life out of it. For me, nothing is more elegant than a classic pasta bianco ("white" pasta -- referring to the absence of a heavy sauce). My favorite variation is as follows:

• Long pasta like spaghetti or linguine. My preferred brands are DeCecco or Barilla (yes, brand matters and IMHO, these are the best). For the most part, follow package instructions. I find usually the timing on the package is short by about 1 or 2 minutes so make sure you taste. Also don't forget to salt the water.
• Drain the pasta and put aside. Quickly return the pot to heat. Healthy glob of olive oil (1/4 cup for a full package of pasta). Into the hot oil add couple of big teaspoons of chopped chilli's (any kind will do as long as they have a good kick), and a couple of finely chopped garlic. Saute lightly.
• Put pasta into the pot and stir to coat with the olive oil.
• Stir in about a quarter cup of finely chopped Italian parley.
• Serve family-style in a big pasta bowl. Don't forget a healthy amount of good quality Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the dish.

Variations include stirring in a nice green like spinach or arugula (don't over-cook -- just enough to wilt it.), or grill some sliced Portuguese chorizo sausage, or mushrooms. I would typically do these options if I'm not entertaining and wanted the pasta to be a principal dish in a regular meal. For a dinner party though, I prefer simpler and classically elegant.

Wine? Sure why not. A nice Chianti, Burgundy, or any of the fruitier New World reds will be fine.

Rebirth ...

I had completely forgotten that I had started this blog ... since the last post, many things have happened in my cooking life. The most notable would be what I call my "stupid stove" a 48" Dacor range. Since that investment, my cooking has scaled significantly with meals for a dozen (two or three dozen) people producing no real sweat. I've also consolidated my thoughts on foods, strategies, etc. and now count, countless successful meal-parties to my credit. This past weekend was my birthday weekend as well as a long weekend in Canada. To celebrate, we hosted a couple of dinner parties. One was steak and lobster (the bugs were on sale for $4.99 a pound) and the other was homemade pizza on the barbeque. I chose the grill for my oven because it was freaking hot on the weekend and I didn't want to have the Dacor pumping 4 pizza's worth of 600 degree heat into the house. This was the first time for cooking pizza on the barby (using suitable Stone Oven pizza stones). What I found was a) it created a fantastic crust bottom and b) the stone actually gets so hot that the top has no chance of cooking properly. So for this occasion, I did blast the suckers under the broiler for a few minutes and that did the trick. I must remember to perfect this technique though.

Chance meeting in Philly

I'm in Philadelphia for a conference and as I often do, I'm at the hotel bar having a night cap. A guy pops up beside me who happened to be a chef at the Westin hotel (another hotel). He was classically trained in Switzerland but has worked in the States for his career. Nothing earth-shattering was learned from my chat but I was very heartened to find myself keeping up with Foodie talk with a real chef ... but then again he was plastered. He recommended a place called Oscar's which is a downtown bar where all the hotel workers hang out to drink cheap booze. May check that out tonight.

Impress who?

"Cooking to Impress" is a a state of mind that says cooking is one of the fundamental human endeavors and as such, it commands all of one's creativity, ingenuity, passion, and bravado. It's more than cooking a great meal, or an expensive meal, or even a fancy meal. It's about sweating over your ingredients, your techniques, your tools to ensure that everyone knows that you've suffered for the craft. When the planets align people are genuinely impressed with not only a tasty meal but the effort and care that has gone into it. This blog is dedicated to foodies everywhere who crave the action and buzz of a commercial kitchen but don't have the guts to cook professionally.