Matters of Taste

NEW! NEW! NEW! Recipe, Gadget, Gourmet-to-Go

Last night was experimentation night in the kitchen. Inspired by a ready-to-cook Chicken Tenders Curry that I found last week at Trader Joe’s, I got out a new gadget and an old cookbook and went to town.

The curried tenders, which come 1 ½ pounds in a sealed plastic pouch (about $4), were boldly flavored with traditional curry spices  and ridiculously easy to prepare. Though the “tender” texture is a bit odd (I’m assuming they are pounded with great gusto), the meat cooks on a grill or in a fry pan in about 5 minutes and is easily shredded for casseroles, sandwiches, salads and rice dishes. That was pleasant surprise #1.

#2. Needing an interesting but easy dish to accompany the grilled chicken, I turned to “Yamuna’s Table,” a 1992 vegetarian cookbook of powerful Indian flavors by Yamuna Devi. In terms of flavor, texture and temperature (it’s served at room temperature), her Carrot Slaw with Cashews was the perfect partner. The recipe is below; the book is still available at Amazon.com for about $20 new, $4 and up for a used copy.

Pleasant surprise #3: the Speed Prep One-Handed Mandoline Slicer. I’ll try any new gizmo that allows me to do two things at once in the kitchen. This mandoline, made by Lifetime Brands, is easy to use -- just squeeze the handle with one hand -- and to clean -- dishwasher safe, though a pound of carrots left one blade slightly orange. There are three stainless steel blades for grating, slicing and julienning. (Devi’s recipe calls for shredded carrots: I found the julienne produced by the mandoline a more desirable texture.) The blades work well on carrots, squashes, onions, leeks, peppers, and firm cheeses.

Of course, this mini-mandoline is no substitute for a larger, faster food processor or a sturdy professional mandoline from Zyliss or Oxo. However, it’s ideal for anyone with limited storage space or limited budget (the Speed Prep mandoline costs about $20 in most housewares departments and at Amazon.com). It’s a great gift for young people cooking for themselves in dorms and tiny apartments.

Here’s Yamuna Devi’s recipe for Carrot Slaw. You’ll find other appetizing dishes, such as Shredded Beets with Fresh Coconut, and Cauliflower and Cheese Croquettes in her book, “Yamuna’s Table.”

3 cups finely shredded carrots

1 quart boiling water

½ Serrano chili, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

½ tablespoon maple syrup

2 tablespoons chopped cashews, pan-toasted until golden

1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

Place the carrots in a colander and pour the boiling water over them. Drain well. Combine the chili, lime juice and maple syrup in a bowl and whisk with a fork. Add the carrots, cashews, and cilantro and toss to mix. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

 

 

"Flying Pans" -- An Adventure in Travel and Good Taste

In the 20-plus years that I’ve known chef Bernard Guillas, I’ve been impressed with his ebullient personality, indefatigable work ethic, sense of humor,  and culinary creativity. Any food lover who checks out his recently published cookbook, “Flying Pans” will quickly discover all those qualities within its 286 pages. They’ll also discover dozens of unusual and delicious recipes.

Guillas is Executive Chef of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club and its beachfront restaurant, The Marine Room, in La Jolla, California. Ron Oliver, co-author of the self-published book, is the Marine Room’s Chef de Cuisine. In the forward of  “Flying Pans,” the two chefs describe themselves as intrepid travelers “guided by food as a compass to foreign lands.” 

They introduce each recipe with a breezy description of the dish and the personal travel experience from whence it came. From Guillas' tale of  the little kids at the highest market in the Ecuadorian Andes who laughed at his appearance (but shared their local “pepino” fruit with him) to Oliver’s infatuation with the fish market of Kusadasi, Turkey – “Rows of fish, stacked vertically as if standing on their tails, were illuminated by bare incandescent light bulbs hanging from low rafters…” – the stories are engaging and educational.

And the recipes, for the most part, are imaginative and appetizing. My first crack at the book, Zaatar Spiced Swordfish Kebab, was an awesome success. A “baton” of fish, marinated in olive oil, lemon zest and zaatar (a middle eastern spice blend of sesame seeds, sumac, savory, thyme, salt and ground nuts) was threaded onto a wooden skewer with cherry tomato, cipollini onion and button mushroom, grilled, and served with pureed eggplant and a smartly herbed bulgur wheat salad. The flavors were lively and complementary.

However, as scrumptious as Zaatar Spiced Swordfish Kebab is, it does illustrate point my one  caveat about “Flying Pans.” With its four parts --- including Tahini (9 ingredients), Swordfish (7 ingredients), Bulgur Salad (9 ingredients) and Zaatar (6 ingredients, but I found it ready-made at Whole Foods), this is clearly not a dish for beginners or those trying to get dinner on the table in a half hour.

Most recipes in the book are pretty ambitious, with several steps and some exotic ingredients.  Moreover, Guillas and Oliver do occasionally gild the lily…meaning that while everything tastes great, you don’t necessarily need everything on the plate.  The divine swordfish dish would have been just as exciting, maybe more so, with a plain rice/quinoa sidekick instead of the complicated bulgur to balance the bold flavors of zaatar and tahini.

Nonetheless, there's a wealth of tantalizing recipes in these pages including a blood orange-lavender glazed turkey, a goat cheese brulee with fig coulis,  and filet mignon with ancho cacao sauce.

And even non-cooks will enjoy the coffee-table presence of this handsome tome. The paper quality is top notch, cool and smooth to the touch. The photos by Gregory Bertolini, including the zaatar spiced swordfish pictured here, are elegant and mouth-watering. The typeset is attractive and easy to read. And the very personal tone set by both chefs make it pleasurable reading, especially with a glass of wine.

The book retails for $35; it's about $23 at Amazon.com.

"Cooking to Hook Up" -- Lobster, Lamb, Leeks and Laughter

"You had me at bruschetta!"

 

So says Valerie, the “Progressive Girl” in a very clever, entertaining, but ultimately practical cookbook called “Cooking to Hook Up: The Bachelor’s Date Night Cookbook.”

OK. Before you start screaming how male-chauvinistic the book is and how I am an enabler for recommending it, let me just say that after some 20 years evaluating more than 1,000 cookbooks a year as a food editor, I do know a good cookbook when I see one. And this one has a lot going for it.

"Cooking to Hook Up” by Ann Marie Michaels and Drew Campbell, was published in 2004. I stumbled upon a single copy in a funky, used-books store in beyond-funky Moab, Utah over the Christmas holiday. I bought it for our 26-year-old son who’s single and a good cook. At first, he found the concept, er, distasteful, tacky, maybe even weird, as in, “Mom, what were you thinking?”

But after browsing the hilarious and right-on descriptions of each “type” – The Academic Girl, The Party Girl, The Granola Girl, The Career Girl, etc – and reading through such recipes as Pesto Swordfish Over Capellini, and Trump Tower of Polenta and Pork Tenderloin, he was won over.

The book’s tone is light-hearted and upbeat. There’s not a soupcon of male chauvinism in these pages, nothing tawdry or vulgar. And despite its outrageous and, to some, offensive “hook,” the book offers creative recipes, concise instructions, helpful sidebars such as timetables and shopping lists, and hours of laugh-out-loud reading enjoyment. I might add that young women with a sense of humor and an interest in cooking will enjoy this book just as much as guys of the same age. There’s also a basic “wine primer,” tips for “preparing the house,” and solutions for “dealing with disaster.”

Each of the 10 “chapters” is devoted to a personality type, and contains five recipes ranging from super-easy to big-deal. From “The Indie Girl”:

"An Indie Girl’s life is a Statement with a capital S…Indie Girls consider themselves actresses in the movie of life…Your meal needs to be constructed like an independent film… "

The authors proceed to tell you where you might find The Indie Girl; how to spot her; famous Indie Girls in history (Parker Posey, Janeane Garofalo and Winona Ryder); how to spiffy up your apartment for the occasion (terrific if you already have some ‘70s shag carpeting or a velvet Elvis painting); what to talk about (“quote David Sedaris”); and the contents of your coffee table (“Go with an alternative or literary ‘zine” or the New York Times Book Review.”)

Music? “Avoid Top 40 or anything mainstream…the Indie Girl will give you an automatic F for playing the Backstreet Boys”). The drinks: Dirty Martys (martinis) or any drink that was served in a classic film, ie. the Zombie in Breakfast at Tiffany’s). And finally, the host’s shoes: Adidas, Converse or Diesel are good. Forget anything with a tassel.

Indie Girl recipes range from the easy “Monsoon Wedding: Bollywood Chicken Curry” made mostly with convenience foods from Trader Joe’s, to the “hard” “Like Water For Chocolate: Chiles en Nogada and Chocolate Flan.” The stuffed peppers entrée is an impressive production involving pears, raisins, walnuts, pork and poblano chiles. The homemade fortune cookies suggested for the "Eat Drink Man Woman: Shrimp and Fortune Cookies" dinner are hilarious.

If you're not planning to visit any funky used-books stores in the near future, I'd suggest checking out  Amazon.com where you can find the book with prices starting at about five bucks.

Comfort Food from "Griswold & Wagner Cast-Iron Cookbook"

Last night our sunny Southern California city got a rare taste of the weather that other parts of the country are used to.  Ferocious winds tore limbs from our trees, sent the dog into hiding, and sent me into the kitchen to play with Joanna Pruess’ newest cookbook “Griswold & Wagner Cast Iron Cookbook: Delicious and Simple Comfort Food.” If you have to put up with nasty weather, you might as well do it in style…with candles or a fire in the fireplace and a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven filled with a hearty meal.

Pruess, is a longtime friend and colleague of mine and the author of about 10 cookbooks. I had dinner with her in New York last week and she had me drooling over her descriptions of recipes in the new book.

“We’re living in a difficult time and we all need comfort, both emotionally and economically. Many of these recipes are inexpensive and easy to make and appeal to a huge audience of all ages,” Pruess said. “Even chic chefs are using cast iron to go from stove to table. They want to give diners satisfying food that lifts our souls.”

So when the storm hit yesterday I dug out my 12-inch Griswold skillet and 6-inch Lodge skillet, hand-me-downs from my maternal grandparents and my step-father (who was our unofficial recipe tester at the San Diego Union-Tribune for years). After following Pruess’ simple instructions for spiffying up neglected pans, I cranked out the delicious “Nona’s Italian Meatloaf” and a “Mini Cast-Iron Skillet Cornbread.”

First I seared the meatloaf, packed with chopped herbs, milk-soaked bread, grated parmesan cheese and ground Brandt beef (my favorite) in the large skillet, then removed it to a plate while I sauteed cremini mushrooms and grated onion in the pan. I then replaced the meatloaf , added some broth and Worcestershire sauce, covered it, and let it simmer for 30 minutes. The smell was intoxicating; the taste of the final product, smothered in “gravy,” was terrific. The buttermilk cornbread, speckled with frozen corn kernels and canned, pickled jalapeno peppers, was also a hit.

We probably won’t have weather like that again in La Jolla for another decade or so. But we will have Pruess’ meatloaf and other dishes on our table again soon.

“Cast-Iron Cookbook” also contains such tempting recipes as Fennel Gratin, Sicilian Orange Beef Stew and even a Tuscan Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Recipes are concise and easy to follow. The up-front table of contents makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. The book costs $24.95 and is available at Amazon.com for about $16.

DInner Doesn't Get Any Easier...Giuliano Hazan's New Book

 Giuliano Hazan’s new cookbook,  "Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipe," gives new meaning to the term No-Brainer.

On one hand, I’m wondering why I should shell out 27 bucks for a book that includes a recipe for spaghetti tossed with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil.  Duh.

Then I realize that that recipe is exactly why I should be shelling out those bucks. Spaghettini with Fresh Tomato, Olive Oil and Basil is a vivid reminder that it’s just as easy to whip up a fresh, healthful pasta dish myself as it is to open a jar of prepared pasta sauce.  OK. So maybe the jarred stuff takes 5 or 10  minutes off the operation. That’s about the amount of time it takes to read the mail and feed the dog.

Hazan’s newest book is all about inspiration. It doesn’t offer the trendy dishes of the day; no real ah-ha moments here. Instead, its real value is in prompting us to cook fresh and fast every day and to save money and enjoy a sense of satisfaction in the process.

I admit. My pantry is crammed with Lucini, Rao’s, and Trader Joe's pasta sauces.  But having whipped up TWO pasta dishes one night this week in exactly 32 minutes, I’m hooked on Hazan.

 

Fusilli with Zucchini and Mint (right) was delicious, its “sauce” of perfumed olive oil and a couple tablespoons of pasta water amazingly creamy. So was the Fusilli with Butternut Squash that is quintessential autumn comfort food. (I added grilled chicken to the leftovers, topped it all with shredded mozzarella and toasted pinenuts and baked it 15 minutes for another fast and easy dinner.)

There are 100 recipes in all, each concise, user-friendly and neatly contained on one page.

Yeah, some of them are laughably basic. I mean, really, is there anyone out there who can’t figure out how to toss a little butter and grated Parmesan into a pot of noodles? (Shells with Butter and Cheese is on page 95.)

But many other recipes offer a creative touch or a new way of doing things. Consider penne with sauteed radicchio and pancetta;  farfalle with peas and lettuce; penne with fresh seared tuna and saffron cream sauce. They’ll all be on my dinner table in the coming weeks.

The book costs $27.50;  $18.15 at Amazon.com. It’s an ideal holiday gift for beginner cooks, newlyweds, college kids, and young professionals. And, for anyone else you know who spends time in the pasta sauce aisle of the supermarket.

 

Hooked on Colorado Cookies

Inspiration comes to cooks from strange places.

Last week I experienced one of the weirder examples of this.

Biking Biking with my husband and sons in Colorado’s San Juan mountains, we set out from Ridgway, a picturesque, two-block town straight out of a John Wayne movie, and headed for

the Ridgway State Park and reservoir. It was a glorious fall day -- bright blue sky, with a few wispy white clouds and a biker-friendly temperature of 60 degrees.

 

After rolling the length of the Dallas Creek Trail (a paved bikeway along the sloshing creek), we entered the state park and began an aggressive uphill climb on a single-track path that hugged the cliff bordering the reservoir.

 

Out of nowhere came a nasty black cloud…and by the time we reached the top of the trail, which ended in a campground and parking lot, it was starting to rain and the wind was working itself into a frenzy.

 

Luckily for us, the park’s Visitor Center was nearby. We rolled over and were met by three park rangers who gestured to us emphatically.  “Severe storm warning,” one shouted. “We just got word of a severe storm warning. Come on inside.”

 

For the next hour-plus, we watched Mother Nature put on one of her better shows…and  thanked our lucky stars that we weren’t still on a muddy trail hanging over a cliff as fierce lightning brushed by.

Our family is, by nature, a resourceful bunch. We can entertain ourselves quite well. But after reading the brochures on “how to deal with black bears” and the geological history of the Uncompahgre Plateau; scanning the visitors’ guest book; and trying on the goofy “animal” hats for sale, we were wishing someone had brought a deck of cards

That’s when I spotted the Colorado Cookie Collection. The cookbook, by a couple of Colorado women who compiled the recipes from friends and family, was one of  a handful of Colorado books for sale at the Visitor Center.

If it had been Colorado Casseroles, I would have been intrigued. But I am not a baker. Don’t have the precision or the patience. I might bake cookies or a pound cake once or twice a year. However, I do love cookies more than any other type of sweet and I do know a good recipe when I see one.

 

With nothing else to do, I flipped through the Cookie Collection and became an instant fan.  The book is divided into chapters on bar cookies, drop cookies, holiday cookies, no-bake cookies, etc.  Recipes are concise and well-written. Type face is user-friendly. And though there were no photos, my mouth was watering as I read.

 

With the stub of pencil I found in my bike bag and the back side of a park trail map, I jotted down, shorthand, the recipes for High-Altitude Marble Brownies and Oatmeal Drops.

 

When the rain let up and a park ranger declared that the emergency was over, we hustled out to our very wet bikes, inched down the slippery single track and found ourselves back in scattered sunshine within a half hour and back in Ridgway in a little more than that.

Before heading home, though, I hit the local supermarket for peanut butter chips, baking powder, unsweetened cocoa and cream cheese.

That night, I whipped up a batch of ooey-gooey marble brownies that were quintessential Americana, quintessential comfort food.  My kids were disappointed that we didn’t get to do the whole park-reservoir bike ride, but they know they hit the jackpot when I discovered the Colorado Cookie Collection.  By authors Duncan and Patrick, it’s available on-line at Barnes & Noble, Oh yeah, and at the Ridgway State Park Visitor Center.

 

Say "American Cheeses" by Clark Wolf...and Smile

I had breakfast last week with Clark Wolf, the most quoted restaurant consultant in the U.S. Whip-smart and wise-cracking to boot, he’s every food writer’s go-to authority on restaurant decor and menu design, farmers markets and food trends, cuisine, culture and Camembert.

 It’s the Camembert we were talking about over breakfast at Loews Coronado Bay Resort. Camembert, that is, as one of the many glorious cheeses being made in America today.

 Wolf’s new book “American Cheeses: The Best Regional, Artisan, and Farmhouse Cheeses --  Who Makes Them And Where to Find Them” is a comprehensive look at a food niche that was dominated by Cheez Whiz and Velveeta for decades. Few people have Wolf’s passion or encyclopediac knowledge of  what’s been called “milk’s leap toward immortality.”  (He basically created  the cheese department at the legendary Oakville Grocery back in 1980.)  And he shares both passion anad knowledge with us in these pages.

The basics are there: How cheese “happens.” The various families of cheese, including fresh, soft,  semi-soft, blue, goat, sheep, rind vs. no rind, etc. How to buy cheese, store it, and eat it.

But my favorite part of the book is the road-trip across the U.S, with stops at dairies, cheese plants and small farmstead kitchens, and introductions to some of the personalities responsible for the growing sophistication of American cheese.

 Well, actually, that’s my second most favorite part of the book. My absolute favorite, and reason enough to purchase this tome, is the Macaroni and Three-Peppercorn Goat Cheese recipe from Zingerman’s Roadhouse, a deli-market in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  A bubbly masterpiece of fresh goat cheese, roasted red bell peppers, Dijon mustard, and ground white, black and green peppercorns, it’s topped with a crusty, bread-crumb-cloaked round of aged goat.

That's just one of the dozens of tantalizing recipes -- Lemon-Goat Cheese Tart or Berkshire Blue Cheese Bread Pudding, anyone? -- included in "American Cheeses." Available at Amazon.com.

 

Creamed Corn Goes Upscale

I’ve always been a purist about summer corn. Get it from the field to the pot of boiling water as fast as you can, schmear it with soft butter, sprinkle on a little coarse salt and gnaw away.

Why fiddle around with one of summer’s most precious gifts, I always figured.

Last night I discovered a recipe that makes a strong case for fiddling.

Fettuccine with Summer Corn, Bacon, and Shiitake Mushrooms is a easy, elegant, supremely satisfying creation that screams “summer” while offering the high-level comfort-quotient of winter foods.

New York City chef Andrew Carmellini is the genius behind this dish that involves just a handful of ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to make. Carmellini boasts that he’s a “Midwestern boy at heart” and loves to play with corn, in pastas, fillings, sauces, custards and even gelati.

For this dish, he uses corn kernels pureed with a bit of milk and cream to create a luxurious yet light “cream” sauce. The bacon is regular bacon, diced.  Readily available white mushrooms are just as good as shiitake. I adapted the recipe by slowly sautéing one sweet onion and adding that to the mix.

The recipe comes from Carmellini’s book, “Urban Italian.” It’s available at Amazon.com.

FETTUCCINE WITH SUMMER CORN, BACON, AND SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS
Serves 4

1 ½ cups diced bacon
6 cups fresh summer corn kernels (cut from 9 to 10 ears)
2 pounds shiitake mushrooms (or oyster or wild), each one cut in half
1/2 cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 pound fettuccine, fresh or dried
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
Pinch of salt

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.
Sweat the bacon in a medium pot at medium-high heat, without any oil, until the fat is rendered and the bacon begins to crisp, about 3 minutes.
Add 3 cups of corn and the mushrooms to the bacon pot and cook together until the flavors blend and the mushrooms caramelize slightly, about 4 minutes.
In a blender or food processor, blend the remaining 3 cups of corn, the milk and the cream together on high speed until the mixture is all liquid, about 1 minute.
Strain the corn-cream mixture through a chinois or fine strainer into the bacon-mushroom pot, pushing the mixture down with a heavy spoon so all the liquid ends up in the pot. Simmer all the ingredients together until the corn mixture heats through and starts to thicken about 2 minutes. (I skipped the straining step and liked the texture of the sauce.)
Add the black pepper and cayenne pepper, If the pasta isn’t finished yet, remove the sauce from the heat and reserve.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions. (Carmellini uses homemade fettuccine and cooks it for about 2 minutes.)
Remove the pasta with a pair of tongs and add it to the bacon-mushroom-corn mixture in the pot. Mix well to thoroughly coat the pasta. Turn off the heat and mix in the parsley and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Season with salt and more pepper.
Plate the pasta, covering each serving with the sauce that remains in the pot. Make sure that you get all the good bits of bacon, corn and mushrooms at the bottom.

(Adapted from “Urban Italian” by Andrew Carmellini.)

"Urban Italian" -- Great Food Wherever You Cook It

Andrew Carmellini had me at “Hello!”

The acclaimed New York City chef wowed me last summer on my first trip to A Voce with his simple but stylish and stunningly flavorful food.  (In fact, I had liked his food at Café Boulud before that, but somehow he makes more of a statement when he’s cooking Italian.)

And when his first cookbook came out some months ago, I was hooked on the first recipe I turned to. 

“Urban Italian – Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food” is an inviting tome that manages to entertain with honest stories and funny anecdotes, all the while providing a detailed roadmap to memorable meals.

Carmellini (and his wife Gwen Hyman, who is co-author) claims he decided to write the book while waiting around for construction delays on A Voce (he is no longer chef there). Though he grew up in a food-loving Italian family, and has cooked over the years in such gourmet temples as Lespinasse (now closed) and Café Boulud, the Ohio-born Carmellini knows all too well the challenges of cooking in a tiny apartment kitchen in a big American city.  Hence, the title, “Urban Italian” and the contents….a compendium of recipes that can be pulled off with success in that environment, without benefit of wood-burning pizza oven, root cellars, curing rooms, etc.

The book starts with the “True Stories” and a hilarious, laugh-out-loud bunch they are. It then moves on to the recipes, but not before a couple pages in which he lays out the ground rules for successful cooking, including “don’t stress out,” don’t be afraid to make a mess,”  “don’t leave out the salt or the fat,” and “plan ahead.” Photos, by Quentin Bacon, add a lot to the experience, especially the tantalizing shots of the cooked foods.

  Carmellini’s a fan of bold flavors, satisfying textures and food with a high comfort-quotient. He delivers all of the above in such dishes as Marinated Chicken Alla Griglia (with roasted garlic puree and Sicilian oregano), Lamb Leg with Garlic, Yogurt and Fennel, Spicy Corn with Hot Banana Pepper and Pine Nuts, and a divine Rigatoni Pugliese with chickpeas, Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. Some recipes contain just a few ingredients that can be tossed together on a weeknight. Others, like the My Grandmother’s Ravioli pictured here, are multi-page affairs with how-to directions and photos.

Instructions are clear and concise, with the lilt of Carmellini’s effervescent and sometimes iconoclastic personality peeking through. This may not be the best book for a novice cook – nothing is dumbed down. But for novices with guts, Urban Italian will  make the move beyond the novice stage a delicious and fun experience.

Here’s the recipe for Rigatoni Pugliese, which has already made its way into my family’s regular repertoire.

RIGATONI PUGLIESE

Serves 4 to 6

Sauce:

1 15-ounce can chickpeas
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound spicy Italian sausage
3 cups Basic Tomato Sauce (see note below)
½ teaspoon ground fennel seed

Broccoli rabe and rigatoni:

1 bunch broccoli rabe, cleaned of outer leaves and bottom stems trimmed
1 pound rigatoni
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, sliced very thin
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

To finish the dish:

2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup grated pecorino cheese

Sauce:
Drain the chickpeas well, reserving the liquid. Blend half the chickpeas (about 1 cup) and all their liquid on high until the mixture forms a smooth paste, about 1 minute.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Squeeze the sausage out of the casing and add the meat to the pan. Brown it, stirring regularly and breaking the meat up into small pieces with a spoon.
Add the tomato sauce and stir to combine.
Add the chickpea puree and the fennel seed and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat until the mixture forms a loose sauce and the flavors are combined, about 15 minutes.

Broccoli rabe and rigatoni:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Blanch the broccoli rabe until the stems are just softened and the color has deepened, about 90 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water to immediately stop the cooking process.
Return the water to a boil, add the rigatoni and cook until it’s al dente. Drain but do not rinse the pasta.
Warm the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium sauté pan. Add the broccoli rabe, garlic, red pepper flakes and the remaining half of the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper and saute until the greens are well coated, about 1 minute.

Return the rigatoni to the pot. Add the sauce and cook on medium-high heat, mixing well, until the pasta is well coated, about 1 minute. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the butter, olive oil and half the pecorino cheese. Transfer the pasta and sauce to a large serving dish and pour the broccoli rabe and chickpea mixture over the top. Top with the rest of the pecorino cheese and serve immediately.

Note: "Urban Italian" contains a recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce that is worthwhile but time-consuming. I sometimes substitute a good, simple packaged sauce, such as San  Marzano, Lucini or Muiri.

Cooking Tips from a Pro

“Timing is everything.”

That’s one of the valuable lessons I learned yesterday in a cooking class at the Rancho La Puerta resort and spa in Tecate, Mexico.

 
1. When sautéing garlic in olive oil, always add something else to the pan first. For example, throw in the chopped onions or shallots or whatever else the recipe calls for, and THEN the garlic. “Let the onion be shocked by the hot oil, not the garlic,” says  Deborah Schneider, Resident Chef of La Cocina Que Canta, the spa’s state-of-the-art cooking school.

2. To add salt to sautéing vegetables, toss the salt into the hot oil in the pan and stir BEFORE you add the vegetable. Schneider heated olive oil, threw in a few pinches of salt, then piled in a huge heap of freshly chopped Swiss chard. “The oil transfers the salt to the vegetables more efficiently and you’ll need a lot less salt,” Schneider says.

3. When toasting pumpkin seeds, place them in a heavy pan over high heat (no oil necessary) and toast until each seed starts to turn dark and puff up “like Rice Krispies.” According to Schneider, properly toasted seeds have a richer, less acidic flavor. They also can be ground into finer pieces than under-toasted seeds.

Yesterday, about 16 guests from the Ranch gathered at the cooking school for Schneider’s hands-on class. The featured recipes were from the school’s just-released cookbook "Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta."

There was Roasted Onion Soup with Chiles (made with vegetable broth instead of the traditional beef broth); Grilled Shrimp on Rosemary Branches; Eggplant Parmigiana (baked not  sautéed in oil) with Roasted  Tomato Sauce; an ingenious Vanilla Bean Flan (made without cream or egg yolks) with Agave Syrup  and Caramelized Walnuts, and several  other delicious dishes made without meat and with a minimum of fat, salt and sugar.

Founded in the early 1940s by Edmond and Deborah Szekely, the Ranch (as it is casually known) was the first spa on the North American continent. (Deborah, who went on to open the posh Golden Door Spa in Escondido, California in 1958 is widely considered to be the godmother of the American spa movement.)

 The property, located 40 miles from San Diego,  is renowned for its vast, unspoiled landscape and a low-key, guilt-free environment that is said to nurture both physical and spiritual health. Guests take a wide variety of “classes” that range from Pilates and Yoga to Sand Volleyball and “All That Dance” aerobics classes featuring salsa, hip hop and Mexican folk dance. The creative and delicious meals are primarily vegetarian (with fish served twice a week); no alcohol is served.
For more information on the spa, visit RanchoLaPuerta.com.

Here’s a recipe from yesterday’s impressive buffet. More recipes can be found in the new cookbook, “Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta” by Deborah Szekely and Deborah Schneider. It's available at Amazon.com.

CRANBERRY QUINOA SALAD
Serves 6

1 1/3 cups water or vegetable stock
1 cup quinoa
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/3 cup diced red onion
½ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1/3 cup sun-dried cranberries
1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the quinoa and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a chopstick or fork.
Let quinoa cool to room temperature, uncovered. In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, onions, cilantro, cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Add the cooked quinoa. Toss with the salt, olive oil, orange juice and lemon juice. Let stand for 1 hour before serving. Taste and correct flavors with citrus juice.