Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times (39 page)

1.
Put the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. After a minute, add the chiles if you like and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the veal shank and raise the heat to medium-high; cook, turning as necessary, until the meat is nicely browned, 10 minutes or more. When the meat is just about done, add the garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

2.
When the garlic has softened a bit, crush the tomatoes and add them along with their juice. Turn the heat to medium-low to maintain a steady simmer. If you are using a broad pot, cover it partially. Cook,
stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender and just about falling off the bone, at least 1 hour.

3.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Cook the pasta until it is tender but firm. Remove the veal shank, scoop out any marrow, chop the meat coarsely, and return the meat to the sauce (discard the bone). Remove and discard the chiles.

4.
Drain and sauce the pasta; sprinkle it with the herb, toss, and serve.

VARIATIONS

Pasta with Ribs

This is one of the best ways to use a small amount of meat in a highly satisfying way. Substitute 6 to 8 meaty spareribs for the veal shank (you can even use a couple more). The cooking time may be a little shorter. Serve the pasta topped with sauce along with a couple of ribs on the side.

• Carrots make a nice addition to this sauce; add about a cup, cut into chunks, along with the tomatoes. Some chopped onion won’t do any harm either.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

THE FLOUR-ENRICHED
water in which pasta has cooked is never going to be an essential component of fine cooking, and it seldom appears in recipes. Yet from its origins as a cost-free, effortless substitute for stock, olive oil, butter, cream, or other occasionally scarce or even precious ingredients, pasta-cooking water has become a convenient and zero-calorie addition to simple sauces.

When you compare a lightly creamy sauce like the one in this recipe to the highly flavorful and ever-popular Alfredo sauce of butter, cream, eggs, and cheese, the latter seems relatively heavy. Substituting water for much of the butter and all of the cream and eggs produces a sauce with a perfect balance of weight and flavor. The water lends a moist quality, not unlike that produced by tomatoes, as opposed to the slickness contributed by straight fat.

This is best as a starter, not a main course, but it’s still pretty rich. I would stick with a light fish preparation to follow, even a big salad.

1.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Cook the pasta until it is tender but a little short of the point at which you want to eat it.

2.
Meanwhile, put the butter in a skillet or saucepan large enough to hold the cooked pasta; turn the heat to medium and add the sage. Cook until the butter turns nut-brown and the sage shrivels, then turn the heat down to a minimum.

3.
When the pasta is just about done, scoop out a cupful of the cooking water. Drain the pasta, immediately add it to the butter-sage mixture, and raise the heat to medium. Add ½ cup of the water and stir; the mixture will be loose and a little soupy. Cook for about 30 seconds, or until some of the water is absorbed and the pasta is perfectly done.

4.
Stir in the cheese; the sauce will become creamy. Thin it with a little more water if necessary, season liberally with pepper and salt to taste, and serve immediately, passing more cheese at the table if you like.

VARIATIONS

• Try fresh parsley, thyme, chervil, or other green herbs in place of sage.

• Cook ¼ to ½ cup minced shallot or onion in the butter, just until translucent.

• Toast ½ cup bread crumbs or chopped nuts in the butter, just until lightly browned.

• Substitute extra virgin olive oil for some or all of the butter. The result will be good if not as creamy.

MAKES AT LEAST 8 SERVINGS

TIME: 1 HOUR

THIS IS ABOUT
as unlikely a dish as I’ve ever come across, a soupy combination containing little more than the two main ingredients and canned tomatoes. Not only does the thought of it tweak the mind—doesn’t this sound something like a bread sandwich?—but it counters a number of the conventions that have been drummed into our collective consciousness.

Chief among these is that the dish is at its best when the pasta is cooked until it is fat, juice-laden, and quite soft. Here there is no need to seize the ideal moment at which the pasta is al dente; in fact you cook the pasta somewhat past that point, and it is even acceptable for it to sit for a while. Nor need you worry about the “correct” pasta shape; pasta with potatoes requires several different shapes, in varying quantities,
preferably broken (it began as a way to use up the bits and pieces of dried pasta lying around in the cupboard).

Finally, not only may you serve pasta with potatoes as a leftover, but it’s just as good after sitting for a day. So feel free to make a half batch of this pasta if you like, but since it’s no more work to make this amount and it keeps for days, I advise making the full recipe.

1.
Put the olive oil in a large saucepan and turn the heat to medium. If you’re using pancetta or bacon, add it to the oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until it becomes slightly crisp, about 10 minutes. (If you are omitting the meat, proceed to the next step.)

2.
Add the potatoes, garlic, and chiles and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes begin to brown all over, about 10 minutes.

3.
Add the tomatoes and their juice, along with 2 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally to break up the tomatoes and prevent sticking.

4.
While the potatoes are cooking, break long pasta, like spaghetti, into several lengths; place cut pasta, such as ziti, in a bag and smack it into pieces with the back of a pot or a hammer. After the potatoes have simmered for about 10 minutes, add the pasta and plenty of salt and pepper to the pot. Simmer, stirring and adding water as necessary—the mixture should remain thick and stewy, never dry.

5.
When the potatoes and pasta are both quite tender—this will take 20 minutes or more—the dish is done. Be careful not to cook the dish too dry. If, at the last minute, the pasta has absorbed nearly all the liquid, stir in another cup or so of water and cook for a minute or two longer. (It may be covered and refrigerated for a day or two or put in a closed container and frozen for several weeks; it’s likely that you will need to add more liquid when you reheat it.) Check the seasoning and add some hot pepper, black pepper, and/or salt if needed. Serve hot, in bowls.

VARIATIONS

• After the potatoes begin to brown, add 1 to 2 cups chopped onion and cook, stirring, until it softens before proceeding.

• Add small bits of cooked or raw meat—up to 2 cups—along with the potatoes.

• Add chunks of carrot and/or celery—up to 2 cups—along with the potatoes.

• Cook a few stems of basil in the stew. Remove before serving, then garnish with plenty of chopped fresh basil.

• Serve with freshly grated pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

• Or make Pasta and Potato Soup: Add 2 to 4 cups of water (or, much better, chicken stock) in step 5. Heat and serve with a spoon.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

THERE IS AN
important and splendid group of pasta recipes that is associated with Rome and the area around it; all the variations begin with bits of cured meat cooked until crisp. Around these delightfully crispy bits—and, of course, their rendered fat—are built a number of different sauces of increasing complexity. The first contains no more than meat and grated cheese and is called
pasta alla gricia;
the second, in which eggs are added, is the well-known pasta (usually spaghetti) carbonara, one of the first authentic nontomato sauces to become popular in the United States, about thirty years ago; and the third is pasta all’Amatriciana, which adds the sweetness of cooked onion and the acidity of tomato.

1.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Combine the olive oil and meat in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.

2.
Cook the pasta until it is tender but not mushy. Before draining the pasta, remove about a cup of the cooking water and reserve it.

3.
Toss the drained pasta with the meat and its juices; stir in the cheese. If the mixture is dry, add a little of the pasta-cooking water (or a little olive oil). Toss in lots of black pepper and serve.

NOTE

The eggs will cook fully from the heat of the pasta. If this makes you at all nervous, however, do the final tossing of eggs, cheese, and pasta in the cooking pot, over the lowest heat possible.

NOTES

Cookbooks and articles about Italian cooking insist that the “genuine” meat for these recipes is pancetta—salted, cured, and rolled pork belly. Pancetta is available in almost any decent Italian deli and in many specialty stores, but for those of us who could not obtain pancetta, bacon—which is also pork belly but cured and smoked—is an adequate substitute. (In fact, the first choice for these dishes is guanciale, salted and cured pig jowl; but that’s hard to find.)

Similarly, pecorino Romano is “essential” to pasta alla gricia, Parmigiano-Reggiano is the most commonly used cheese in carbonara, and the Amatriciana-style sauce is at home with either. But, again, you can choose whatever you like—no one is looking.

VARIATIONS

Spaghetti Carbonara

While the pasta is cooking, warm a large bowl and beat 3 eggs in it. Stir in about ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the pancetta and its juices. When the pasta is done, drain it and toss with the egg mixture. If the mixture is dry (unlikely), add a little reserved cooking water. Add plenty of black pepper and some more Parmigiano-Reggiano to taste and serve.

Pasta all’Amatriciana

In step 1, remove the pancetta with a slotted spoon and, in the juices left behind, sauté a medium onion, sliced, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until well softened, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool a bit. Stir in 2 cups chopped tomato (canned is fine; drain it first) and turn the heat back to medium. Cook the sauce, stirring occasionally, while you cook the pasta. When the pasta is done, drain it and toss it with the tomato sauce, the reserved pancetta, and at least ½ cup freshly grated pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

IN THIS DISH
, the pasta takes on a fruity acidity from the reduced wine—smoothed by the last-minute addition of butter—and a beautiful mahogany glaze that’s like nothing you’ve ever seen.

The kind of wine you use is of some importance, although it need not be expensive. Try a decent Chianti Classico, a light wine from the Côtes-du-Rhône, or a good-quality (red) Zinfandel. This is a true starter, not a main course; follow it with something gutsy, like grilled meat or fish, or something grand like
Crisp Roasted Rack of Lamb
.

1.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put the oil, garlic, and hot pepper in a large, deep skillet.

2.
When the water boils, add the pasta; turn the heat under the skillet to high. Cook the pasta as usual, stirring. As soon as the garlic begins to brown, sprinkle it with salt and pepper to taste and add three-quarters of the bottle of wine (a little more than 2 cups); bring to a boil and keep it there.