Today I'm going to write about food. I was reading our header and it said that this blog was about sharing our interests, such as etc... Today, I'm going to share one of the first pasta recipes I made up myself. It was while I was working at The Maple Street Mansion (the name sounds a bit classier that the type of place it's become in the past 10 years). Anyway, I know that most of the time recipes are in a format like prep time; ingredients; measurements; how to cook; and the like. I probably could do that, but I don't remember the exact measurements of all the ingredients I used, and it would vary on how many individuals you were cooking for anyway. So I've decided instead to copy the recipe down sort of like how it sits in my own mind. My apologies to all readers who can't read my mind and who don't know the difference between a splish, a splash, and a sploosh as units of measurement. Anyway, here goes.
The first thing you want to do is get your ingredients all within arms reach, preferably near a stovetop and a countertop (or prepping table if you work in a restaurant). You will need a pot to boil your pasta. I used angel hair pasta. It worked best for what I was doing at the time, but any bachelor will tell you that they all taste the same and therefore make little difference. When boiling your pasta, toss a splish of olive oil and a punch of salt into the water to keep the pasta from sticking to the pot or to itself. I prefer extra virgin olive oil (love the way it smells when heated), and I like kosher salt or sea salt, but any salt will do.
While your pasta is cooking, this would be a good time to start getting the other stuff ready. You'll need a saute pan, some tomatoes, fresh basil (not dried and put in a bottle, it's got to be fresh), butter (real, not margarine), garlic (fresh is ok, but for this dish I prefer the minced garlic that comes in that little jar), and some white wine (chardonnay will probably be your best bet here). Don't waste that bottle you've been saving for your grandson's wedding day or whatever. Really and truly, just about any mid-grade store bought white will do. Let's save the wine snobbery for when we're not cooking with it. In your pan, go ahead and begin melting your butter at a medium-low heat. I hate the look, smell, and taste of burned butter, don't you? While it's melting down, you can toss in your garlic and a splash of your wine. How much you use will be determined by how many you're cooking for and don't be afraid to experiment and screw around with any recipe. Make it your own! Chop up your basil very finely, maybe even toss it in the food processor for a few seconds. Slice or dice your tomatoes (I'd make the tomatoes around bite-size, but whatever shape is your own call). Toss in your basil to the pan, getting it started. By now, your noodles should be getting about done. Drain them and then rinse them off with cold cold water. Put them to the side for now. Get a plate ready.
At the last minute, put your tomatoes into the saute pan. You want them hot, but not really cooked. They should still retain the color and texture of raw tomatoes. Hopefully, as you've added your ingredients to your sauce, you've been stirring it, that's only common sense. Anyway, grab a serving of pasta, and toss it in the pan with your sauce, getting the mix going. Some people may want to put the pasta directly onto the plate and then top it with the sauce, like spaghetti, but with a sauce this light in flavor and color, that's a bit rediculous here. Besides, your noodles should be cold until putting them back into the pan. Anyway, with your tongs or pasta scoopy thing (you know the one I mean, it's like a spoony-thing with holes and arms), stir the pasta into the sauce, saturating as much as you can. Put it onto your plate and serve it. If you find you made too much pasta, or too much sauce, don't worry. Just keep adding one or the other until you've balanced it out. Play around with it.
Make it your own. That's what I did, and they put it on the menu. Must be pretty good, but your first and most critical judge will be yourself. If you like it, someone else probably will too. That is unless you have terminal bachelor tastes and do things like drown everything you each in ranch dressing or hot sauce (sometimes I am guilty of this, and not just with wings). Anyway, try this recipe, or don't. If you have any questions about it, please ask and I will try to answer them.
--Griffin
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