All the things that go into the pasta are thrown into one bowl, and get this: it is “cooked” by placing that bowl on top of the pot of water while the pasta boils. The heat from the boiling water is enough to warm everything through so that you only need to use one stove burner and the stove only needs to be on as long as it takes to cook your spaghetti.
I did a little decorating today, and I have to say that my kitchen prep station is much cheerier now for it. I’m sure you’ll recognize the quote, as it is also on the right side of this little blog. Ah, The Hobbit. How right you are.
I’ll be going on a little journey of my own this Thursday, though I do hope it is nowhere near as perilous as Bilbo’s trek to The Lonely Mountain, and that my own adventure will have 100% fewer giant spiders. I’m going to do the four-day hike from Cusco to Machu Picchu with a friend! I’m both excited and terrified, but you guys, I am going to hug so many llamas.
My friend Sara came over for dinner and to drop off Gregory, who will be accompanying me to Peru as my trusty sidekick.
Gregory.
I whipped this up for us, and it’s a pasta dish I’ve made many times before (though usually with shrimp). I did learn on this occasion, though, that not all jalapeños are created equal because whoooooooweeeee this one was spicier than any of the others I’ve ever used. So even though the recipe below says to use a whole jalapeño, it may be better to make sure your pepper doesn’t taste like the Fire of Mount Doom before tossing the entire thing in.
‘Tis the season for picnic-ready salads here in the ol’ U.S. of A, especially with July 4th coming up this weekend. And because nothing goes together with amateur pyrotechnic displays as well as easy-to-eat and easy-to-share food from a cooler, I’m here to help with a delicious garlic-filled pasta salad.
A bonus is that there is minimal stove time involved (just however long it takes to boil water and cook your pasta of choice) so you don’t have to sweat it out too much to put this together. This is vitally important when you live in a city where air conditioning is a luxury and not a given, despite outside temperatures regularly reaching rotisserie-levels. Seattleites insist that the heat wave will only last for about a month.
I know, I know. Two pasta recipes in a row? Am I some kind of madwoman?
I assure you that I’m not. Well, not that mad, anyway. I just really like pasta, you guys. Especially pasta that is clams and linguine.
This past weekend, my friend Nicole admitted that she had never cooked clams before and found the idea intimidating. “This will not do!” I cried, except in a much less dramatic fashion. So on Saturday, I picked up a bunch of manila clams from Taylor Shellfish Farms and Nicole came over to don a cute apron and help cook.
It’s nice to have a sous-chef!
The first time I cooked clams, I was nervous too, but it’s super easy. They cook really quickly, and if you’re worried about getting sick, just remember to toss out any clams that don’t open all the way after cooking; don’t force any open! The partly closed ones (or completely closed ones) were likely dead before you cooked them, and you don’t want to eat those. You can keep your clams alive and happy for up to a day by keeping them in the fridge, covered with a damp paper towel. Make sure they’re not in water, either.
I love shows where people travel around the world and eat delicious or weird (or delicious-weird) stuff. That kind of programming combines two of my favorite things: traveling and eating. I mean, if there was a travel-eating show that also included a 10-minute segment in every episode where Colin Firth just beats the tar out of various baddies whilst looking dashing? Might as well just call it Amy’s Favorite Show Ever: Don’t Bother Watching Anything Else, I Know I Won’t.
Don’t worry, this dish isn’t anything “weird-delicious,” though its source is from one of my favorite show hosts! Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods was definitely on my regular TV show rotation, and I keep up with his Twitter updates — mainly because he tweets about some interesting-sounding (and looking) dishes he eats at various restaurants all over the world. The other day, he tweeted out a recipe for “chitarra with broccoli rabe and lemony bread crumbs.” And uh, that sounded delicious, despite my not knowing what “chitarra” is, other than that it sounds a lot like an Avatar character.
Chitarra, or spaghetti alla chitarra, is an egg pasta that from what I can tell with my amateur pasta knowledge (gained entirely from consuming a lot of pasta), is about the same thickness as spaghetti, but is square-shaped instead of round. In my head, I call it “yellow square spaghetti,” which I’m sure I should never utter out loud to anyone who is actually a pasta connoisseur.
This past weekend was blazingly hot, like the departing summer sun was leaning in to give Seattle a big ol’ hug before it inevitably ignores us for the fall and winter. As a result, the ambient temperature of my apartment reached levels that were previously only recorded inside of active volcanoes.
And that’s where I ran into this little dilemma — the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my stove, but the only thing in the world I wanted to eat was pasta. That’s how my mind works, folks, like the time I decided to walk in a blizzard because I wanted ice cream. Sigh. Simmering a nice red sauce on the stove was out of the question, but what can be done instead? This can be done instead.
I found this recipe on Epicurious years ago, and it’s something I find myself making over and over again. It’s so simple and easy, and best of all, requires minimal stove time. Just long enough to boil whatever pasta suits your fancy plus a minute more for the broccoli to get all nice and soft, et voilà — dinner is served.
