Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Summer Pasta with Goat Cheese



Wunderground tells me that today in my neighborhood, Tierrasanta, the temperature will reach 92°.  As I write this I've got a large glass of iced coffee on my desk, my desk fan is circulating, blowing my hair--and hopefully sweat--from my face. And I'm writing about a way to create a summery pasta dish with a cream sauce you don't have to cook.

The sauce, that is. You do have to cook the pasta. But that's it. And that hot pasta will make your sauce for you and you toss together the ingredients.


For my summer pasta, I first minced a couple of cloves of garlic, added it to a small bowl, and then added a pinch of sea salt and several tablespoons of one of my favorite olive oils. I wanted to let that sit for an hour or so to let the garlic infuse its flavors into the oil.


Once I was ready for dinner I put a big pot of water on the stove to come to the boil. While I waited, I halved a bunch of cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives. I still have those green onions, so I diced one up and set it aside. I have a pot of gorgeous big-leaved basil growing on the counter behind my kitchen sink, so I cut off several leaves, then rolled them up to chiffonade them into aromatic thin slivers. I seeded and removed the membrane from a serrano chile before dicing that. Then I added a little sherry vinegar to the garlicky oil.

I was ready--except for one last item. Goat cheese.

The goat cheese would pull the dish together. Yes, it would be wonderful without it. But when the goat cheese hits the steam from the freshly cooked pasta it dissolves into tangy creaminess. You could do the same with a fresh mozzarella--but you wouldn't get that distinctive flavor the goat cheese imparts. So I go for the goat.

From this...


To this... Just by stirring.
Do you really need a recipe for this? Nah. Just start with your favorite dry pasta. Me? I really enjoy DeLallo biodynamic whole wheat pastas, like these shells. You'll also want tomatoes, kalamata olives, onions or chives, fresh basil, garlicky olive oil with just a little acid from a good wine vinegar (or try lemon juice), and if you like heat, a chile or red chile flakes.

I also like to add artichoke hearts or roasted shrimp, toasted pine nuts or walnut pieces, marinated eggplant or sweet peppers or fresh peas. There's just a world of options out there. The point is you can create a healthy, delicious meal for yourself in short order with little heat or effort even when the temps are soaring and the only thing that sounds good is a popsicle.








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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Chilled Spinach and Green Onion Soup


Where are you on the gardening spectrum? I find myself drawn to spending time outdoors in my garden. I love watering and pruning, nibbling on cherry tomatoes or society garlic flowers. I have my successes--Meyer lemons, herbs, limes, cherry tomatoes, roses--but frustratingly frequent fails. And then there are those that fall somewhere in the middle--like the onions I harvested yesterday.


Now here's my problem. Clay soil. Clay soil that I work religiously with compost and gypsum until I'm ready to collapse. And as soon as I turn my back and put my shovel back in the garage, that damned soil smirks and tightens right back up. The dwarf fruit trees and rose bushes seem to defy it and thrive. But annual vegetables are suffocated by it--hence the fails.

The onion seedlings were gifted to me by my mom. I didn't look at the tag but assumed they were conventional onions. I duly went home and planted them in amended soil and waited. And waited. And waited. I planted them last summer and they grew, flowered, and when the tops finally started to turn brown I decided it was time to pull them. That was yesterday. They came out like green onions--no developed bulb. Was it the fault of the clay soil or were they destined never to fill out? I don't know. But, foolishly, I pulled them all.


So, yikes! Now I have tons of green onions. I gave some to my neighbor but still am overflowing. There's not even room in my fridge. Don't get me wrong. I love green onions--but I'm bursting at the stinky allium seams.

When you start poking around for inspiration on how to use them en masse, what you find is that green onions are pretty much limited to garnish or grilling material. That just doesn't do it under the circumstances.

Soup, I thought, would--and given the heat wave we're enduring right now, chilled soup. My inspiration came from Saveur and a soup they had made with spinach, chives, and yogurt. The green onions they included were grilled--and a garnish. But if chives, why not green onion? With that little start I came up with something my own I think you'll like.


I had spinach I was going to use for smoothies. I chopped up a bunch of the green onions. I added garlic. I was with my mom at her doctor's office and mentioned all this to her and she said, "Add dill." So, I went into my garden later that afternoon and cut off some dill. I also picked a Meyer lemon because I could tell this mixture, which had a base of yogurt and sour cream, needed some acid. The garnish would be panko crumbs browned in butter--and some more chopped green onion.


The soup is delightful--thick and creamy, and quite herbaceous. It's perfect for a steamy summer meal. Other than sautéing the panko, no heat is involved. Everything goes into the blender and poured into a bowl. If you want a more refined soup, puree all the greens first and then put the mixture through a sieve. Then add the yogurt and sour cream. I like a more peasant-style soup and on a hot day didn't have the patience for an extra step so I blended everything together.

The irony is, of course, it still didn't come close to using up the green onions. Any takers?

Chilled Spinach and Green Onion Soup
(printable recipe)
Serves 4

2 cups spinach, tightly packed
1 cup green onions, sliced (set aside a couple of tablespoons for garnish)
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
1/2 cup ice cubes
1 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt
3/4 cup low-fat or "light" sour cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon butter
4 ounces panko crumbs

1. Place all of the ingredients until the butter in a blender and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.
2. Chill the soup for at least an hour.
3. In a skillet, melt the butter and then add the panko crumbs. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds until the crumbs become slightly brown and crisp. Drain on a paper towel.
4. To serve, divide the soup between bowls. Garnish with the set aside slices of green onions and a sprinkling of the panko crumbs.


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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Daniel Wolinsky's Tagliarini with Hot Sausage and Clams


Last week I promised to share a pasta dish that Daniel Wolinsky, Chef de Cuisine at cucina SORELLA in Kensington, taught me how to make. Wolinsky, who teaches pasta-making classes at the restaurant, made a simple Tagliarni with Hot Sausage and Clams. Like many of us who cook at home, he created a "what's in the fridge" style dish. Initially he was thinking of a corn pesto, which intrigued me. But, there was no corn around that day. But clams and other seafood were. So we were going to go in a seafood and tomato pasta direction. Until he noticed his house-made sausage. Scratch the seafood. Instead it evolved into just clams with the sausage, along with garlic, and even green garlic (it is, after all, still spring), lemon juice, and white wine. Actually, there was fresh minced basil, too, which you can certainly add, although Wolinsky didn't include it in the recipe below.

If you don't know Daniel Wolinsky, it's probably because he's fairly new to San Diego. He came here from New York last year to open the restaurant. Originally from upstate New York, he grew up cooking as a kid. His mom, he said, is a great cook. He is especially fond of what he calls her "funeral" cookies--cookies packed with everything from coconut to walnuts to chocolate chips. They're the reliable cookie you bring to occasions like a funeral, he explained.

Wolinsky started out exploring food in Israel and returning to the U.S. to attend the New England Culinary Institute. He developed an interest in French fine dining, interning at a Michelin star restaurant, Auberge du Lac, in England as a young cook. When he returned to New York, he continued in fine dining for awhile, then worked at a Korean American restaurant called The Good Fork in Brooklyn, where he started making dishes like potato gnocchi. As his career continued Wolinsky segued back into French and Italian fine dining. In 2014, he staged at the three-star Michelin restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy under Massimo Bottura.

"The common denominator," he said, "was fresh pasta. The more I played with it, the more I loved it."

Surprisingly, Wolinsky doesn't leave cooking behind at the restaurant. He still loves to cook at home for himself and his girlfriend.

"It's hard to eat and be depressed so I also cook at home." He also hosts Monday night dinners for the staff with non-Italian food. "Our last dinner was Israeli. We've done Asian. And I hosted Passover."

Of the various restaurants in the Urban Kitchen Group, cucina SORELLA is the "pasta" restaurant. But given what he calls the micro cultures in Kensington, Wolinsky designed the menu to have something for everybody--gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian. He explained that he changes something on the menu every three weeks, making decisions based what's in the farmers market truck he buys from.

So, that explains the origin of our dish.

He started with making the pasta. He already had a batch of dough mixed that one of his line chefs had been turning into ravioli. This dough, rich in eggs, is a house specialty and Wolinsky felt it might be too difficult for home cooks not all that experienced in making pasta to get right. Instead, our recipe below is a little more user friendly with fewer eggs (three whole eggs instead of nine yolks) and your success that much more guaranteed.

The noodles Wolinsky prefers for a seafood pasta like this are thin. He explained that they cook quickly in water and in the broth of the seafood component they better absorb the flavors.


When running the pasta through the machine, you'll want to get it as thin as possible. When Wolinsky did his final roll, you could actually see the grain of the wood counter through the sheet.


The long flat pasta stretched about three feet along the counter so Wolinsky cut it into several pieces. Then sprinkled them lightly with flour so when he folded each up there'd be no sticking.


Then he sliced through the folded piece of pasta to create long, thin noodles of tagliarini.



With the pasta made we went into the kitchen to create the sauce. It was ridiculously quick. So first put a pot of water to the boil. Then grab a pan and add the sliced sausage. Sauté the coins until just golden brown on both side. If they don't give off enough fat, add a little extra virgin olive oil, and then add the garlic. Just before the garlic starts to brown add the clams and quickly cook together before pouring the wine into the pan. Cover the the pan so the clams will steam open--it'll take just a couple of minutes. Once the clams open, add the pasta to the boiling water and the green garlic to the pan. The pasta should be cooked in less than a minute. Pull it out of the water and drop into the pan and toss, adding the fresh lemon juice. Taste and add salt if necessary. If the dish is too dry for you, add a little of the pasta water to the pan.

At that point, it'll be ready to plate. Pour the pasta mixture into a bowl and top with the bread crumbs.

Tagliarini with Hot Sausage and Clams
from Daniel Wolinsky of cucina SORELLA
(printable recipe)
Feeds about 4 people

1 pound fresh tagliarini (Any long noodle will work but we recommend fresh long noodles; recipe below.)
8 ounces or 2 spicy Italian sausage links pre-cooked and sliced into coins 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped1 pound Little Neck clams (Manilla also work.)
3/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon green garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh toasted bread crumbs

1. Put on a 8-quart pot of water to boil and season heavily with salt.
2. In a large sauté pan over medium/high heat sear the sausage till golden brown on both sides.
3. Add the garlic and right before it starts to color add the clams and toss together. Cook for 30 seconds.
4. Carefully pour the white wine into the pan and cover to steam the clams open, about 2 to 3 minutes.
5. When the clams open drop the pasta to cook and add the green garlic to the pan.
6. Toss in the pasta and squeeze in the fresh lemon juice. Season the dish to taste with salt. If you like the dish more brothy, add a few tablespoons of pasta water.
7. Plate and top the pasta with a healthy portion of bread crumbs. Enjoy!

Fresh Pasta Recipe
3 whole eggs
300 grams 00 flour
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1. In a Kitchen Aid stand mixer add the flour and on a low speed with a dough hook slowly pour in the eggs and olive oil.
2. Mix for about 10 minutes (Note you may need to add a touch of water if it's too dry.). After the dough has formed wrap tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
3. Roll the dough using a pasta rolling machine to the desired thickness and shape. I recommend, longer thinner noodles.



Cucina SORELLA is located at 4055 Adams Ave. in San Diego.

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Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Make Your Own Pasta


In a recent LA Times story, Evan Kleiman, the host of KCRW's Good Food radio show and the woman behind the great Caffe Angeli on Melrose in LA (which I adored when I lived there), wrote about why shoppers should not buy supermarket "fresh" pasta.

"If imported Italian dry pasta were choice A and fresh pasta were choice B and I could only choose one to eat for the rest of my life, there would be no contest. I’d choose A, dry pasta. Many home cooks, bamboozled by the glut of fresh pasta in restaurants, have come to believe that if it’s the chef’s choice, then it’s the better product. It is not."

Now while she acknowledges her story is about her love of dry durum wheat pasta, she also readily acknowledges that fresh pasta made well and served with appropriate sauces is a great dining experience.

Making really good fresh pasta demands quality ingredients and skill--and it's something that with practice home cooks can do for themselves. Back in the 80s, the idea was to make it, then hang it on "pasta racks" or broom sticks to dry and then cook later. Today, of course, we recognize that you can put a big pot of water on the stove to heat and make your pasta while the water is coming to the boil.

Because I've spent a lot of time with a several chefs who have shown me their techniques--and because with summer almost upon us and fresh tomatoes being a perfect foil for a good pasta in many cases, I thought I'd do a round up of four of my favorite pasta-making experiences with San Diego chefs. And next week, I'll have a new one for you from Daniel Wolinsky, chef de cuisine at Cucina Sorella in Kensington, whose tagliarini is in the photo above.

Here they are:


Fabrizio Cavallini's Organic Handmade Pasta: Who better to teach the art of pasta making than an Italian chef? Fabrizio Cavallini of Bencotto and Monello demonstrated how seemingly easy it is. All it requires is high quality 00 flour and organic semolina, both of which are available locally at Mona Lisa, and eggs. Oh, and skill. But I have a video of Fabrizio's demo, which shows how you go about making the dough.


Nick Brune's Dark Roux Noodles: Nick Brune is a Louisiana native who lives in California and has combined his culinary understanding of the two states to create a Cali-Creole cuisine that was the focus of Local Habit in Hillcrest. No longer there (both Nick's affiliation with the restaurant and then the restaurant itself), Nick has turned his focus to his longtime catering company Eco Caterers. When I came for a visit, he taught me a dish that combined his Creole background with Southeast Asian flavors, based on his travels there. This dish places dark roux noodles into a pho-like soup, which is stunning. But you can also enjoy the noodles as pasta with your favorite sauce? What's the secret to these dark noodles? You'll have to read to find out!


Ryan Studebaker's Roasted Vegetables and Goat Cheese Raviolini: Ryan, of MIHO Catering, makes a lovely egg pasta that he turns into little pockets of savory cheesey appetizers, thanks to a variety of seasonal roasted vegetables blended with goat cheese. You can take his recipe full hilt with the raviolini or simple enjoy the pasta recipe, make noodles, and top them with his vegetable goat cheese mixture.


Amy DiBiase's Ricotta Gnudi: Okay, technically this may be considered the "anti-pasta" since "gnudi" means naked, as in ravioli without the pasta. But why not make a tender, creamy pasta-like dumpling that so easily takes a good sauce. Amy, who is now with Grand Restaurant Group, taught me this dish while she was at Tidal. It's so luxe it's a whole meal, depending on how you sauce it.


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