Two Broccolis With Cavatappi and Raisin-Pine Nut Sauce

I'm on a splendidly tabled kick this week! My parents gave me the book (can't assume that anyone's read my other posts, so, "the book" is The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper) for Christmas, and I've just been getting into it again recently.

I don't know if I've ever consciously eaten broccoli raab (rapini), although I read about it in mouth-watering contexts on a fairly regular basis. I was expecting it to be a lot spicier than it was! It had a kick, I guess, but I was bracing myself for a smackdown which, mercifully, did not come.

I made a few changes: the recipe calls for cavatappi, which I think are those little corkscrew tubes. I didn't have any, but I used radiattore, which seemed to catch the yummy sauce just as nicely. Also, it calls for Genoa salami. I used what the deli case called "Venetian hot Genoa salami." Hmmm... Google tells me that Genoa is also in the north of Italy, just on the opposite side from Venice. Anyway, because of the extra hotness from the salami, I omitted the second jalape*o. And for the cheese, we STILL had some mizithra left over from weeks ago, so I used that and made up for the extra saltiness by not adding salt anywhere else they say to, except a bit in the pasta water.

Final note: use a huge pot for the pasta and broccolis if you are making all four servings, and use a big saute pan, too!

Notes from the recipe: they say it serves 4 as a main dish (looks more like 6 to me, but I may have gone overboard on the broccolis), and that the sauce can be made one hour before serving.

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds broccoli
• 1 large bunch (1 to 1 1/4 pounds) broccoli raab (broccoli di rapa, cime di rapa, rapini)
• 8 quarts salted water in a 10-quart pot

The Saute

• Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 2 ounces Genoa salami, sliced 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3/4-inch dice
• 2 jalape*os, fine chopped (seeded if you want less heat)
• 4 large garlic cloves, fine chopped
• 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup raisins

Pasta

• 1 pound imported cavatappi, rotini, or fusilli [Carrina's note: uunnh? Imported? I used Golden Grain Mission and had no complaints...]
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Stella Fontinella, Asiago, or young sheep cheese [Carrina's note: hm, I think I've heard of Asiago... any kind of cheese would have been yummy in this dish]

1. Bring the salted water to a boil.

2. Peel the broccoli stalks (huh? I've never done this. Maybe someone can tell me to do it without peeling my knuckles off), and cut them into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices. Quarter the florets. Trim the broccoli raab stems to within an inch of where the leaves begin. Pile up the stalks and slice them into 1/4 inch pieces (WHOOPS! missed this last sentence while making the recipe, but frankly, I liked having some recognizable broccoli in there).

3. Generously film the bottom of a straight-sided 12-inch saute pan with olive oil, and set it over high heat. Add the onion and generous sprinkles of salt and pepper. Saute until the onion is golden brown, stirring often. Halfway through the saute add the salami and jalape*os.

Once the onions are browned, blend in the garlic and tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute. 4. Stir in 1/2 cup of the water and boil it down to nothing as you use a wooden spatula to scrape up everything from the bottom of the pan. Repeat with the remaining 1/2 cup water. Once it is boiled off, stir in the raisins and pull the pan off the heat. Cover and set aside.

5. Drop the pasta into the boiling water. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Stir in the two broccolis and boil until the pasta is just tender. Scoop 1/2 cup of the pasta water out of the pot and set it aside. Immediately drain the pasta and vegetables in a colander.

(As you may have guessed by the presence of both hands, my husband took this picture for me! Although an optically-activated camera that straps to one's head would be flipping sweet...)

6. Reheat the onion saute over medium-high heat. Blend in the reserved pasta water, and add the pasta and vegetables and the pine nuts. Toss over the heat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pasta is lightly coated with the moistened saute.

Taste the pasta for seasoning. Turn it into a serving bowl. Pass the cheese separately.

Done! Delicious, hot dinner with the vegetable stirred right in, and at least three servings' worth of leftovers.

So, I'll be contending with leftovers tomorrow, but here are the ingredients for Wednesday's meal (if all goes according to plan):

• 4 medium boned, skinless chicken breasts
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice of 5 limes
• 1 can Coca-Cola

Yes, that's right: Lime juice. And Coca-Cola. And chicken. I'm so excited it just may affect my sleep! I got this recipe from a friend who now lives in Peru. I can't wait to try it!

Yeah, still not over it. Chicken... and Coke! Can't wait.

Pho, Interrupted

Disclaimer: This isn't really pho. I'm sure a closer title would be "Soup which superficially resembles pho, but whose broth was concocted in an inauthentic manner." But whatever it is, I love it almost as much as I love the bowl I get down the street at Pho Gia! So, I just wanted to get that off my chest: this broth has no beef knuckles or anything of the kind. It's just an approximation.

Aaaaanyway, I bought a knob of fresh turmeric the other day (grown organically in Hawaii! Who knew?) and was itching to use it in something. I don't think I've ever seen turmeric in its non-yellow-powder form before! Looked like ginger except for the whole orange factor. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

I've made my Splendid Table-inspired pho-proximation several times. The broth contains a bunch of broiled ginger. I figured I would use a little less ginger than usual, and add in some turmeric. The turmeric gave the broth a beautiful color!

The bad news: All of my pictures are showing up tiny, even though I select "Large"! What gives??

Here's the recipe:

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup With Beef and Fresh Herbs (Pho)

From The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper

Cheater's Asian Broth (this name comes from the cookbook! not me)

-1 medium onion, thin sliced

-4 large garlic cloves, thin sliced

-One 2- to 3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thin sliced

-6 whole cloves

-1 whole star anise, bruised; or 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds

-Fresh-ground black pepper

-Four 14-ounce cans chicken broth

-2 tablespoons sugar

-2 teaspoons Asian fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc nam)

Soup

-6 to 8 ounces linguine-style rice noodles

-6 to 8 ounces top round steak (chicken breast can be substituted), sliced extremely thin

Table Salad

-10 sprigs fresh coriander (okay, where I come from this is cilantro, and the Splendid Table isn't British so I'm not sure who they're trying to impress...)

-6 to 8 sprigs Thai or other fresh basil

-2 serrano chiles or jalape*os, thin sliced

-Generous handful bean sprouts

-1 large lime, cut into wedges

Sauces (I've never used these and haven't particularly missed them)

Hoisin sauce

Hot sauce

1. Position an oven rack 4 to 6 inches from the broiler, and preheat. Double a very large piece of heavy foil. Scatter the onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, anise, and 5 grinds of pepper on the foil.

Broil for 5 minutes, turning the pieces once. You want the onion to have some toasted edges, and the spices should be fragrant. Scrape everything into a 6-quart pot. Be sure to get all the anise seed if that's what you used.

2. Add the broth, sugar, and fish sauce, and bring to a gentle bubble. Cover tightly, and simmer for 20 minutes. [Carrina's note: stop right here! Every single time I make this broth, I end up simmering for closer to 40 minutes, because I forget to start soaking the rice noodles until the broth is done. Consequently, the broth always ends up being a little too, ahem, pungent. 20 minutes really is plenty of time for this method. Just sayin'. Now could you please tell my future self this, so she remembers the next time she makes this broth?]

3. Meanwhile, put the rice noodles in a large bowl, and cover them with very hot tap water [Carrina's note: hot tap water just did not cut it when I made this at my mom's house. We ended up just having to boil water at the last minute. I've started using almost-boiling water from a teapot instead, and it works much better. And yes, cover it!]. Soak the noodles for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are tender but with a little more firmness than you want. Stir a few times. When they are ready, drain and rinse well with cold water. Divide the noodles between two large soup bowls.

4. While the broth is simmering and the noodles are soaking, arrange the table salad on a platter and set out the sauces.

[Carrina's note: also slice the meat at this point, if you have time! I used top round steak that had been frozen solid for a month, then thawed in the fridge for five minutes. It was like I was shaving the meat! I used my super-sharp, fairly new chef's knife, or this method probably wouldn't have worked.]

5. To serve, divide the beef between the soup bowls. Ladle the bubbling broth into the bowls [check out the beautiful yellow color the turmeric gave to the onions!]

Top each serving with selections from the table salad.

Spicy Turkey and Jasmine Rice Soup

- from Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak (yes, the same guy who wrote Where the Wild Things Are - but this is the book that gives me kindergarten memories).

I pulled a bag of this soup out of the freezer to have for lunch yesterday. Even without the snappy toppings, this soup makes a great meal - it's like your classic chicken soup and rice with a kick.

I got this recipe from Cooks Illustrated online a couple of years ago (and it originally appeared in the magazine on November 1, 2000), but have never actually made it with a turkey carcass until our Thanksgiving hosts were kind enough to let me walk off with theirs last November (thanks, Becca! link to her awesome and prolific food blog appears here). Before November, I'd just used chicken - sometimes with intention, and sometimes because I had extra chicken "pieces" to use. Either way works. If you don't have enough bone-in chicken/turkey/fowl of your choice to bring flavor to this much stock, just use less water or combine the stock with some canned chicken broth until the flavor is bumped up to acceptable.

I always simmer the jalapeños [note to self: stop posting recipes with jala - dang it - until you figure out how to put the "~" over the n without copying and pasting from Word. This is the third time in two days, and is getting tedious], garlic, ginger, and lemongrass longer than the 10 minutes the recipe calls for, because I love pungent spiciness. Taste it after ten minutes and see what you think.

I cook the jasmine rice separately and then throw it into the broth to simmer for a few minutes at the end, because no matter what I do, leftover rice in a soup always soaks up any remaining broth, and there's no way I'm going to slave over a homemade stock only to have it gobbled up at the last minute by rice.

This recipe freezes great! You may need to add a little chicken broth when reheating, due to rice greediness problem alluded to above.

A note on the lemongrass: the recipe calls for one stalk. I usually use three or four, since I have them anyway. Safeway sells lemongrass, sometimes at least, in the "refrigerated ethnic produce" section with the cactus arms, tamarind, bell peppers, and tomatillos. In the past I have been tricked into buying a big bundle of lemongrass at Safeway, but I think you can just pull out a couple of stalks. If not, you will have a lot of lemongrass to use up. New Seasons in Portland definitely sells it by the stalk. Some grocery stores also sell little pieces of lemongrass in a plastic box along with the other fresh herbs, but it is soooo marked up! If you can't get fresh stalks, try lemongrass paste, also available near the refrigerated ethnic produce section.

Last note: this recipe assumes that your primary goal is to rid yourself of a turkey carcass, and that you won't mind staying home all day to accomplish this goal. If the spiciness sounds good to you, but you'd just as soon infuse the spicy flavors into a commercially-prepared chicken broth, then just do that! You can save yourself, oh, four hours (still allow some time for that massive amount of white wine to simmer, though - or cut back the amount).

Spicy Turkey and Jasmine Rice Soup

(originally published in Cooks Illustrated, November 1, 2000)

Basic Turkey Stock
-1 turkey carcass from 12- to 14-pound turkey, cut into 4 or 5 rough pieces to fit into pot
-1 large onion , peeled and halved
-1 large carrot , peeled and chopped coarse
-1 large rib celery , about 4 ounces, chopped coarse
-3 medium cloves garlic , unpeeled and smashed
-2 cups dry white wine
-1 bay leaf
-5 sprigs fresh parsley leaves
-3 sprigs fresh thyme

For the Soup
-1 stalk lemon grass , trimmed to bottom 6 inches and bruised with back of chef's knife
-3/4 inch piece fresh ginger , peeled, cut into thirds, and bruised with back of chef's knife
-2 large cloves garlic , unpeeled and smashed
-2 jalapeño chiles (fresh), or Thai chilies, halved lengthwise and seeds removed
-Table salt
-1 cup jasmine rice
-2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves
-3 tablespoons minced fresh basil leaves
-5 medium scallions , sliced thin

1. For Stock: Bring turkey carcass, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, wine, bay leaf, and 4 1/2 quarts water to boil in 12-quart stockpot over medium-high heat, skimming fat or foam that rises to surface. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 2 hours, continuing to skim surface as necessary. Add parsley and thyme; continue to simmer until stock is rich and flavorful, about 2 hours longer, continuing to skim surface as necessary.

2. Strain stock through large-mesh strainer into large bowl or container; remove meat from strained solids, shred into bite-sized pieces, and set aside; discard solids in strainer. Cool stock slightly, about 20 minutes; spoon fat from surface. Use stock immediately or cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate up to 2 days.

3. For Soup: Bring turkey stock to simmer in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add lemon grass, ginger, garlic, chiles, and 1 teaspoon salt; cover and simmer until broth is fragrant and flavorful, about 10 minutes. With slotted spoon, remove and discard lemon grass, ginger, garlic, and chiles. Add rice and reserved shredded turkey meat from stock; bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper; ladle soup into individual bowls and sprinkle each with a portion of cilantro, basil, and scallions. Serve immediately.

Refried Beans With Cinnamon and Clove (wait - beans don't COME refried?!?)

I tried this recipe a week and a half ago and am just now reporting back on it - but that's the way it goes. First things first: this dish was very economical to make. As in, $4.25 for four servings, INCLUDING the twelve (small) tortillas and organic produce. As the queen of cheap (sounds like a tarted-up Mary Engelbreit character) (except when it comes to my morning espresso), I will be coming back to this recipe again and again, especially now that I no longer get a free lunch at my workplace. Oh, and did I mention that the beans hold up extremely well? I took three-day-old leftovers on a train trip, and they were very forgiving. The notes in the cookbook even say that they'll keep for five days! Ultimate econo-food, this.

I got the recipe from The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper.

-Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil

-1 large onion, chopped into 1/4-inch dice

-Salt and fresh-ground black pepper

-4 garlic cloves, fine chopped

-1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and fine chopped

-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

-1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

-One 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained

-Two 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained [Carrina's note: SURPRISE! The red kidney beans are (or will become) the refried beans. I can't even imagine what a cinch this recipe would be if you just threw everything into a can of ready-made refried beans. Hmmmm...]

-1 1/2 cups water

-2 tablespoons butter

1. Generously film the bottom of a 10-inch skillet with olive oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions with salt and pepper to taste until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. You want to hear a sizzle as they cook.

2. Add the garlic, jalapeño, cinnamon, and cloves, and cook the mix until it is fragrant, about 1 minute, taking care not to burn the spices. Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan. [Carrina's note: "...as they go into the pan"? Meh, what a pain. Wish I'd just stuck a spoon and the can and crushed them right then and there.] Sauté for another minute.

3. Stir in the beans and water.

Bring to a fast simmer, crushing the beans with a potato masher (or the back of a large spoon) as they cook,

and scraping the bottom of the pan as the beans begin to thicken.

Simmer until the beans are thick, about 10 minutes. Blend in the butter, and taste for seasoning just before serving [Carrina's note: pursuant to this blog's subtitle - I did it! I did taste for seasoning just before serving!]

Speaking of cinnamon and clove, go to Better With Garlic for recent recipes for Red Chile and Cinnamon Clove honeys! (two different types of honey - although the combination sounds delicious as well).

*I've tagged this recipe as gluten-free. This does not take into account the flour tortillas that I used.