Spagetti Carbonara

This was one of the more popular dishes from the recent fundraising dinner we did for the Homer High Ski Team (competing at the State competition this weekend up in Fairbanks....Go Mariners!)

My first exposure to Spagetti Carbonara was at an italian restaurant in Colorado Springs where, as a young Carri, I learned to hone my skills in working with chefs who are jerks. And also where I learned about how a dish can get so far away from it's roots. The one they served was a cream laden mess with green peas and thick sauce. Carbonara is not an old country italian dish, necessarily speaking, though any noodle eating culture has some version in their traditions. This one originated in Rome, where I hear they really love their pasta, and is specifically called carbonara (rooted in the italian word for charcoal) for the coal miners who labored in midcentury italy (perhaps it was their favorite?). It was brought to the states by the soldiers of WWII who's european rations were made up of powdered eggs, bacon, pasta...add some local cheese and there you go. This is a simple dish, prepared fairly quickly and must also be eaten right away, before the cheese cools. It is a great pasta course for an elegant dinner, just a few bites of silky fabulousness to get the mouth ready for the entree to come. At least that's what I was thinking when I planned that dinner. I used my home cured pancetta (thanks again Mr. Ruhlman) and eggs from my friend Samantha's chickens to make it extra special. 

There are many versions of this dish out there besides my old chef nemesis' heart attack on a plate.

Many people just fry the bacon and toss in the eggs and the cheese, which is just dandy, especially if you have great bacon. I like to add a little extra flavor by adding in carmelized shallots. they completely disappear in texture but the flavor adds a little something...the white wine doesn't hurt, either.  

Here's my version of Spagetti Carbonara for two.

You will need:

12 ounces (3/4 #) dried spagetti or angel hair (really anything would work, for gluten free, I like quinoa pasta)

1/4 pound pancetta or bacon, sliced into thin chunks

1 large shallot diced (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup dry white wine 

2 eggs

2/3 cup (at least) pecorino romano cheese, freshly grated

plus extra for sprinkling on top. 

1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

To assemble:

Start an 8 quart pot of water to boil and throw in a handful of salt. It is important to salt the pasta water, because this seasons the pasta as it softens in the boiling water. While the water is heating, fry the bacon in a large skillet until it is crisp. As bacon is frying, your water should come to a boil, add the pasta and stir frequently. Pull bacon pieces out of frying pan and let drain on a little paper towel. if you have a lot of fat left in the pan, pour some off (not down the drain, either. in the trash or, better yet in a container to use for later!) leaving about 2 Tablespoons in which to fry your shallots. Put shallots in pan and saute over medium heat until they are very tender and browned. Add white wine and cook until liquid is almost gone. At this point the shallots will be completely decimated. (word for the day, means to reduce drastically, among other things) Your pasta should be cooked to just soft, with a bit if 'tooth' still left in the center. Once it is done, drain, reserving about a cup of the cooking water. Whisk together the two eggs in a bowl and add in the cheese. whisk in about 1/2 of the reserved hot pasta water. Place the drained noodles into the hot pan with shallot reduction turn off the heat and pour over the egg mixture (the heat from the freshly cooked pasta will cook the egg), toss on 1/2 of the cooked bacon and mix the whole mess using a pair of tongs or a big fork. If you must, switch to a larger pan or go right to your serving dish. If it's too thick add the remaining pasta water, sprinkle on the chopped parsley and finish with the rest of the bacon and more cheese on top. A little arugula salad (the bitterness of the greens really balance out the slightly sweet, fatty bacon) on the side makes this a nice dinner for two...okay, my husband would say add a grilled steak to that, but, hey...the bacon is enough for me. To each his own, right? 

Rockfish Crudo

so simple and delicious!

We get beautiful fish here in Homer. And while we are the self titled "Halibut Capital of the World", Halibut isn't the only thing we have in relative abundance, in fact, it is in such high demand, fetching prices of up to $6.00 a pound across the dock, my husband won't be bringing any home for our freezer.  He will, however, bring home rockfish. It is a by-catch associated with halibut long lining, but does not have a strong market here. We are able to move some on the local buyers, but the rest comes to us. some we have commercially processed to use at the bakery and the rest goes right into our freezer. I love having this around for the last minute dinner. It thaws so fast, you could have a solid block of frozen fish and come home, pull it out and immerse in cool water, take a hot shower and you'll be ready to cook it by the time your toweled off. We often use it as our ace in the hole when we have unexpected company. No matter how you cook it, this fish is always very good. One of my favorite ways to use this fish, especially when it's only been frozen for a short time, is to make a crudo. It's sort of like a ceviche, only the fish isn't left to cook in the lime quite as long. In fact my crudo spends a little more time with the lime juice than most, but I find the texture to be so great if the fish is, if you will, cooked in the acid until it is just 'al dente'. You can play with this yourself, depending on the comfort level of your guests...you could pile all kinds of wonderful things like shaved onion, avocado, tomato, yuzu, salmon roe...whatever turns you on. Me, I like to keep it simple, especially if there is a big menu to come. So amazing, so clean, so simple!

Here is how I do it:

If your fish is fresh, freeze it until solid. This will kill any parasites that may be lurking about and it will make it easier to slice super thin. Take your frozen fish and thaw it just slightly, it should feel a little pliable, but still be stiff in the center. With a sharp knife and going across the grain make paper thin slices of the fish. Place those slices in a single layer on a glass plate. Squeeze lime juice liberally over fish and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of sea salt. Cover with plastic and refrigerate up to 30 minutes. Right before serving, remove plastic and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cilantro leaves. If your gilding the lily, add the above condiments, or whatever suits your fancy. Serve with a nice flat bread cracker or crack chips. OR, if your a purist, just a fork or a pair or chopsticks are all the accessory you need.

Nuts for Spiced Nuts!

When they told me theme for the high school ski team dinner was nuts for skiing, I knew I wanted to make some spiced nuts to put in bowls and nestle in amongst the pine bough decorations on the table. They snuggled right up next to the little skiers made out of nuts that one of the parents made. (Laura Miller, you rock...just sayin'!) Something a little sweet and spicy and crunchy all at the same time to get their taste buds revved up for the feast to come. These are also a favorite of mine to make for the holidays. They keep in a jar forever and can be packaged to give in gift baskets or passed around when unexpected guests arrive.
Here is what you need:
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar (I used organic)
2 teaspoons worchester sauce
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (regular will do, just won't be as flavorful)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
5 cups nuts. I used pecans, cashews and walnuts
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
To make:
In a large bowl, using a whisk beat egg whites till frothy and light. Add salt, sugar, worchester sauce, paprika and cayenne and mix well. Stir in nuts and then melted butter. Turn out onto a parchment lined sheet pan and bake in a 325 degree preheated oven for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. Cool thoroughly before packaging, but not to be resisted if eaten when still slightly warm.

Coconut Macaroons- 2010 holiday cookie of the year.

Coconut Macaroons...not really a macaroon, per se, but people seem to know what we mean when we call them that, so there you go. These are so gooey and sweet and SIMPLE (and gluten free! YAY!), they are the perfect addition to your holiday cookie list. They are so popular this year we have had a hard time keeping them in the case!

1/2 cup sugar
4 cups sweetened coconut
3 egg whites- beaten lightly
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt

Beat egg whites while slowly pouring in the sugar. beat til just barely holding a peak when whisk is removed. Fold in remaining ingredients.
Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Use fingers dipped in water to neaten the shape.
Bake in 325 dgree oven for 10 minutes or until slightly browned.
cool well before moving. To totally guild the lily, drizzle melted chocolate in a fancy design on top.
Yield 24 to 36 cookies, depending on how big you make them.
Keeps in airtight container 1-2 weeks. perfect for mailing.

Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is here! All of my pies are made...40 of them to be exact. 5 different kinds. The most popular by far? That's right. 

Pumpkin

makes 2 - 8" pies

2 cups pureed cooked pumpkin, butternut squash works well too! (good to puree to remove any stringyness)

1 cup brown sugar

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk or heavy cream

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t clove

1 t ginger

1/4 t finely ground black pepper (optional)

Whisk all ingredients together, pour into two chilled unbaked pie shells and bake in preheated 350 degree oven

For 40 minutes until center jiggles only slightly when shaken.

Here is a crust recipe, too:

For 2 - 8" pies

2 1/2 cup unbleached flour

7 ounces cold butter, cut into little pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup ice cold water

1 egg yolk

splash lemon juice

Cut cold butter into flour, working the mixture with your hands and rubbing between your fingers in a sheeting motion. When it is well combined add sugar and salt and mix together wet ingredients... Add to flour mix and work to form a ball of dough, using more flour or water as needed to keep it from being too dry or too sticky. Wrap tightly and refridgerate for an hour or up to a week. Will freeze for one month.

Pistachio Thumbjams with raspberry filling

It's no denying the time for holiday baking is upon us...too soon you say? Never too soon around here, where we began making our little cookies a couple of weeks ago. We'll be in full swing with them by the end of next week. To get myself warmed up I decided to take on the Holiday Cookie Challenge put forth at ruhlman.com by Emilia Juocys. As we all try to get through this time with no Gourmet Magazine (thank goodness for my stack of back issues!) this will be a fun diversion. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make and finally decided to use the bakery's very first holiday cookie recipe, pecan thumbjams, and give it a festive makeover. So here we have rolled the brown sugar dough in ground pistachios and used my homemade raspberry jam (perfect for it's bright red hue) to create one very merry cookie!

 

Pistachio Thumbjams with raspberry filling

yield 2 1/2 dozen 2" cookies

ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 cup of ground pistachios*

1 cup of raspberry jam- seeded

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. 

Add the flour, salt and lemon zest and mix until fully combined. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll each ball in the ground pistachios. place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and press your thumb into the center to make a well for the jam. Spoon a bit of jam into the dent and bake at 325 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way to ensure even browning. Cookies are done when edges are slightly browned. Let cool completely before eating...be carefull, the jam is HOT! These will keep for quite a while (4 weeks) in an airtight container, hidden away (this part is very important if you have a husband with a sweet tooth). Otherwise they are soo good, they won't last at all!

*the pistachios, I have to admit, were a little fussy. I could not find shelled nuts anywhere in my little town, so I shelled, then blanched, peeled, toasted, cooled and THEN ground them in a food processor. Good thing it is a holiday cookie, right?!

Soup of the day: Potato cheddar Beer

I wake up every morning and listen to the local public radio station to get the weather and local goings on. this morning as I drank my coffee and got my morning update, I could hear the wind and the sea raging outside my window. Winter is definitely here and the gale warnings the gal on the radio predicted for this morning are proving to be true as we watch the waves crashing on the beach behind the bakery. It's a good day for this soup, but then, it always is, gale or not.

The secret is in the beer:

Potato Cheddar Beer Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

4 ribs of celery, roughly chopped 

1 bottle of beer

6 medium potatoes (i use red, with the skins on, but any kind will work) roughly chopped

6 cups of water or vegetable stock

salt to taste

8 ounces cream cheese

3 cups cheddar cheese- shredded

In the bottom of your soup pot, with a little oil, saute the onion and celery until translucent, even a little carmelized. Add the beer scraping up the brown bits off the bottom of pan. Cook 2 minutes to burn off alcohol. Add the potatoes, water and salt. Cook over medium high heat until potatoes are soft. drop in cream cheese and let sit 10 minutes to soften. Blend with an immersion blender until very smooth. Whisk in the cheddar while it is still hot. Serve immediately. If needed, reheat verry carefully. Garnish with shredded cheddar and chopped scallions. If your feeling really spicy top with chopped jalapenos. 

Serve with fresh bread and butter and...you guessed it, a nice cold beer!