Spaghetti Puttanesca (CATKTV)

• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
• Table salt
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained and 1/2 cup juice reserved
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 4 teaspoons minced anchovy fillets (about 8 fillets)
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped coarse
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed

Mise en place.

Cook garlic (loosened with a tablespoon of water), anchovies, red pepper flakes and oil until garlic is fragrant.

Add tomatoes and cook until lightly thickened.

 

Add parsley, capers, and olives.

Toss cooked pasta (I didn't have a full box of spaghetti but I had 2 open boxes of pasta and combined the two) with liquid drained from canned tomatoes and then with sauce.

A good, simple classic Italian pasta dish.

Pork Chops with Vinegar and Peppers (CATKTV)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup table salt, plus more to taste
• 4 (8-10 ounce) bone-in rib loin pork chops, 1/4 to 1 inch thick, trimmed of excess fat
• Ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips
• 2 anchovy fillets, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 medium sprig fresh rosemary
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar, plus 2 tablespoons to finish the sauce (optional)
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves [Didn't have this on hand at the time though I do now after the next recipe I'll blog about]

Dissolve sugar and salt in 2 quarts water.  Brine chops in fridge for 30 minutes.

Mise en place.

Browned chops.

Cook onion until just beginning to soften.  Do the same with the peppers added in with anchovies and rosemary.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant.

Add water and vinegar and reduce.

Nestle in the pork chops and cook in a 400 degree oven until center of chops registers 140 to 145 degrees.

Swirl butter into the sauce and peppers.

Another punchy, vinegar-infused Italian this though this time enriched with butter.  Pork chops were quite moist.

Didn't do a side dish, but I had salad and a bit of the Tuscan stew still on hand.

White Bean and Sage Tart with Quinoa Crust (HCEV)

• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus more for greasing the pan [Decided that the particular cuisine of the variation I selected could certainly stand up to a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. And it's just less messy to grease a pan with a wrapped stick of butter.]
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• salt
• 2 cups cooked or drained canned white beans [Cannellini struck me as a good choice. Even the name of the beans are Italian.]
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped [Mom gave me an orange one so who needs buying a slightly different pepper. It really doesn't matter THAT much unless you're attempting to substitute a significantly more bitter green bell pepper for the sweeter varieties. Or of course, vice versa.]
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or thyme, or about 1/2 teaspoon dried [I was just about to vent about the fact that I forgot I somehow don't own dried rosemary and went "DOH" when I read the thyme part. I wound up using some Herbes de Provence. Decidedly not Italian, but at least it contains both of those herbs.]
• 3/4 cup cream, vegetable stock, bean-cooking liquid, or water [Used some chicken stock I had open in the fridge. I'm not a vegetarian; so, sue me.]
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen are fine; don't bother to thaw)
• 3 egg yolks

Oh, quinoa, clearly it doesn't take much more than me trying to open the glass jar my roommate Staci Z keeps you in to propel you ALL OVER my work space.


Mise en place at this stage in the game.


The quinoa blackened long before I noted any golden-browning going on.


After reading Bittman's intro to the recipe again, I guess it would've been faster to drag out my food processor for the first time since moving at the end of January. Probably would've been easier to gauge consistency as well, but blenders are easier to clean.
Oh, while separating the yolks out for the dish, I unthinkingly cracked a whole egg into the blender. Managed to scoop most of the white out with my hands eventually. Thankfully this isn't a dish that is broken by traces of egg white (I think a recent MMB recipe I read stressed the importance of this but I forget which one by now).


First attempt at a tart. Cooked quinoa pressed into some odd tart pan I found in the cupboards. Isn't it supposed to be fluted from top to bottom?


Not much to be said about my presentation at this juncture.


My first bain-marie. Taking my definition from Epicurious.com this time because the Wiki just confused me:

The French call this cooking technique bain marie . It consists of placing a container (pan, bowl, soufflé dish, etc.) of food in a large, shallow pan of warm water, which surrounds the food with gentle heat. The food may be cooked in this manner either in an oven or on top of a range. This technique is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, sauces and savory mousses without breaking or curdling them. It can also be used to keep cooked foods warm.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/tools/fooddictionary/entry/#ixzz1pubMMhTr

Looks more like a blob than a tart on the plate. Tastes pretty good. Maybe it'll firm up in the fridge a bit more.