Recipes
Romesco
h/t to chefsteps for this recipe. I omitted the parm for because I wanted to highlight the other flavors, and I was NOT disappointed. Original recipe here.
Ingredients
120 g (1 cup) hazelnuts
150 g (1 cup) roasted red peppers
90 g (1/4 cup) olive oil
20 g (1.5 T) apple cider vinegar
15 g (3 large cloves) garlic
10 g (1 cup, not packed) parsley
8 g (1.5 T) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
10 g (2 T) Smoked paprika
Recipe
Toast the nuts in a large frying pan over medium heat until fragrant. Add everything to a blender. Blend!
Rigatoni all’Arrabbiata
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
3 liters (3 quarts) water
45 g (a handful) kosher salt
20 g (2 T) EVOO
20 g (6 cloves) garlic, thinly sliced
2 g (1 T) crushed red pepper
800 g (28 ounce can) San Marzano tomatoes
400 g (~1 lb) dried rigatoni
Recipe
Bring the water and salt to a boil in a pot large enough to fit the pasta.
Meanwhile, heat the EVOO over medium heat in a Dutch oven (👈🏾 affiliate link) or a pan large enough to mix everything together. Once warm, add the garlic and sweat until softened, about 7 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to not brown the garlic. Add crushed red pepper, stir, and cook until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up a bit with your spatula, and cook for 10 minutes to thicken slightly.
Cook the pasta in the water according to package directions. Two to three minutes before the pasta is done, transfer it to the sauce using a spider (👈🏾 affiliate link). Reserve a cup of the pasta water and add that to the sauce. Increase heat to medium-high and cook until thickened, about 2-3 minutes.
5 Minute Quinoa
I'm just gonna come right out and say it...
Quinoa tastes like grunt.
Which is expected since people who talk about quinoa usually fit into one of three categories:
- health nuts who prioritize pseudoscience over taste [you know who you are],
- people who claim to eat healthy but overeat whatever health food they're crazing on and,
- Mexicans.
[One of those is false.]
I'm in the fourth category:
Culinary Geniuses.
“Quinoa tastes like grunt.” — Anthony LeDonne
I love quinoa not because it contains a ton of complex carbohydrates, or because it's a formidable intestinal pipe cleaner, but because it's super easy to cook in bulk and makes a great base for other dishes. [Translation: I'm lazy.]
I make a batch on Sundays and add it to dishes throughout the week.
For breakfast, I fry some quinoa in a little butter/olive oil, mix in some browned greens, and throw a few fried eggs on top.
For lunch, I'll top it with pan-fried salmon, blanched leeks, and beurre blanc.
For dinner, I'll eat a steak and just stare at the quinoa [a man can only take so much fiber].
Ingredients
Makes 6 Servings
- 350g / 1 box of Quinoa
- 700g / 2.5 C Water/Stock/Broth
We'll call this the "liquid" below. Get ready. - Salt to taste
Side note, the reason restaurant food tastes better is salt. Properly wielded it will make everything taste better. And if you're worried about your sodium intake, check the labels on all the prepared food you're shoveling down your pie hole before cutting salt out of a home cooked meal. - 0-45g / 0-3 Tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
We'll call this "fat" below. The quantity used it up to you. The more you use the better it'll taste.
Recipe
- Heat the base of a pressure cooker over high heat. Add fat.
- Add quinoa.
- Toast for a few minutes. Stirring occasionally. VERY occasionally. Go have a few sips of wine. Check Facebook. You're trying to brown this stuff, not just warm it up. It should smell toasted. This will probably take 5-10 minutes to smell toasty. It's okay if you under toast it. It's not okay if you over toast it [cuz then it's burnt, yo.]
- Add liquid and salt. Seal pressure cooker and cook for 5 minutes. Start the timer as soon as pressure reaches 1 bar/15psi (usually the second red line).
- Run warm water over the top of the pressure cooker to depressurize and remove the lid.
- If there's residual liquid, put it back over medium heat for a few minutes without the lid. If not, you're done!