Mise en Casserole

Sometimes, a food blog really just speaks to where you're at, and this month that's Smitten Kitchen. Almost every recipe she's posted the month has had me at the grocery store within a day or two to make it. Yesterday's was no different. Mushroom Marsala Pasta Bake? Mushrooms? Yes. Marsala? Yes. Pasta bake? Yes and another very emphatic yes.

I'm trying to get better about my mise en place (Anthony Bourdain declares it his religion). A big part of that is reading the recipe carefully, from start to finish, so you can determine what needs to be prepped when. With this recipe, you can get the pasta going, and while the water is boiling and the pasta cooking, prep everything else. And for the reverse, it took me 5 minutes to hand wash all the pots and kitchen tools I used while the casserole cooked, leaving me 20 minutes to read my book.

My notes:
-Sadly, I do not own anything resembling a stovetop-to-oven dish of the required size, so there was no one-pot action going on here.
-Loblaw/No Frills sells a 254g package of sliced mushrooms (I paid $1.99). You'll need 340 grams here, so I bought two packets and used them all (to avoid the aforementioned rotting crisper drawer).
-The thing about mushrooms is they suck up any oil or butter you have in the pan the second they touch it. Don't be alarmed. Just keep an eye on them and after not too long they'll start to sweat their own liquid.
-Marsala is a must on my bar cart, because it's useful in so many recipes and brings so much flavour. The LCBO has three types shelved in the fortified wine section, all under $15. If you buy a bottle, it'll last, so don't be shy.
-I started buying bouillon cubes. Then I bought pre-made chicken broth. Then I discovered Better Than Bouillon. You can buy a large container of the chicken or beef at Costco for about $5. I've seen the other varietals in various grocery stores. My tip here is to pull 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water out before you drain it and add the bouillon to that, as the hot water will help it dissolve and the pasta water already has flavour.
-I actually think you could add spinach or kale to this, folding in shredded greens as you mix the pasta and sauce in the dish. 
-As I've mentioned previously, 3 tbsps is not enough parsley for me to pull the trigger. We didn't miss it.
-If you don't already, start building in cooling time to your cooking time. There's little less unpleasant, eating wise, than burning your mouth on the first bite.
-For D and I, this fed us dinner with enough for leftovers for lunch. If you want it to feed more than four people, I'd recommend cooking a protein like chicken or pork to go on the side, as well as the salad she mentions.

(A quick note on my food photography: I am no food stylist or photographer. That said, I am hoping to work on improving the photos you see here. As it gets lighter later that will be easier, as it's currently pitch dark when I make dinner.)

Single Food - Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Guys, life is hard right now. I've actually taken to reading the obituaries in the Globe and Mail for the inevitable person who died way too young to remind myself that it could be worse. And obviously even the quickest glance at any news outlet affirms that (Paris, etc). Still, the self-pity party force is strong here, and there's only one cure: pasta.

I was on my own for dinner last night and having already declared my intentions to not leave the house, I had a somewhat limited pantry at my disposal. Of course, the purpose of the well-stocked pantry (of which I am a fervent believer), is that you will always have sufficient ingredients to make something delicious. All I wanted in the world was spaghetti alla carbonara and, with some modifications, I was able to make it happen.

Nigella's recipe for spaghetti alla carbonara from Feast has one of my favourite headnotes ever. It is reproduced in part on her website.

 Yes, I know a whole pack of spaghetti is far too much for two, but I want that whole panful lugged back to the bedroom.  No namby-pamby mimsy little plated arrangement.  So you'll have leftovers?  Just work up an appetite for them later.

So we'll blow right past the fact that instead of eating this romantically in bed, I ate it alone in sweats on the couch and focus on how delicious and easy it is.

My notes:
-I had no pancetta, but I did have bacon. Since bacon is greasier, I didn't cook it in olive oil.
-I had no vermouth, so I used Prosecco instead. Totally worked.
-I had no double cream (or what Canadians would call whipping cream), so I used half-and-half instead. Honestly, I didn't notice a discernible difference.

-I had no spaghetti, so I used bucatini. Totally acceptable swap.

-My digital scale has met some terrible tragedy rendering it virtually useless, so I eyeballed a lot of the qtys here. It worked out, but see below my pitch for a digital scale.
-I regularly forget to reserve pasta water, so if a recipe calls for it, I try to put a measuring cup somewhere obvious (like on top of my oven mitts or in the strainer), so I don't forget to grab some water first.
-Insert standard disclaimer about people who shouldn't eat raw eggs. Assuming you can, don't be nervous about the last step. As long as you take it off the heat, it'll all come together without scrambling.
-Nigella's note in Feast says it can serve two (or four, less excessively). I halved the recipe for one and it was a lot, although I did eat it all (I'm not ashamed). That said, you could comfortably halve it for two people, particularly if you served something else along-side it.

(Sorry, not sorry)

Useful kitchen appliances:
-I will be replacing my digital scale posthaste, as it's indispensable for cookbooks like Nigella's that use weights rather than cups etc. It's also far superior for baking, where relying on weights is much more consistent.
-A kitchen can't have enough sets of tongs. In this case, a set of rubber edged ones would be useful if you're using a non-stick pan so you don't scratch it.

Single Food

Well, that was quite an...(checks calendar)...eight months. I do NOT know how that happened. I cannot even count the number of times we've made a lovely meal, taken pictures, I've written a post in my head and then...never did anything about it. But life has settled somewhat, for now anyways, and I've missed having a space to talk about our cooking (RIP SweetSpot). I daren't commit to anything resembling a schedule, but I'd like to think you can expect to see recipes, reviews of cookbooks and other food related books, and other things that I find interesting in the world of food.

When I was a single gal, lo those years ago, many a bad night would finish with the punchline, "and then I ate an entire box of macaroni and cheese". Almost 5 years later, I'll still make macaroni and cheese, but it's usually of the homemade baked variety for big BBQs and comfort dinners. Now, it doesn't happen very often, but I am occasionally left with a night at home with no-one to feed but myself. And I'll admit, my first thought is always to have a box of Kraft Dinner. I often talk myself out of it though, as I really try to avoid processed food as much as possible, and that cheese powder is almost certainly the definition of processed food. To get to the new punchline, it was in making dinner for D and I last week that I discovered my new single girl food. It's just as easy as a box of KD but contains far less crap, and I can assure you is just as delicious.

Behold: Cacio e Pepe.

The only unusual thing you need is Pecorino Romano, and if they have it at my IGA, I can promise you can find it almost anywhere. Scheffler's Deli at the St. Lawrence Market has great Pecorino Romano, and it's cheaper than the piece I buy at the store. Once you've bought a piece, it will last for several meals, and since it's a hard cheese you have a little more breathing room when it comes to using it. The only part that's any work is grating the cheese and that takes about 30 seconds, depending on your grating device (note to self: buy new box grater with smaller holes).

The thing I particularly like about this recipe is that it's super easy to cut down to a smaller portion. I'm a recipe follower to the enth degree and I find it very difficult to improvise around these types of thing. It's always hard to know how to cut down a recipe involving a sauce, especially. This though, you basically cut down by 6ths or 8ths, depending on your appetite, and it's easy peasy.

To make it even easier, I would recommend:
-use spaghetti if you have it, but any long and thin pasta will do (I particularly like it with fettuccine)
-putting out your measuring cup for the pasta water when you put the pasta in, as I am forever forgetting to scoop out some water before I drain my pasta
-grating more cheese than you think you need and leaving out your cheese and grating equipment just in case you need more
-using less pepper than you think you need, as it can quickly become overwhelming - better to need more than have a dish ruined
-if you forget the butter, it's no big thing

But I'm curious, what's your single food?