(no subject)

[yagathai]

Made the best pasta in my life today (along with some asparagus wrapped in coppa and some very nice garlicky sauteed chard). The pasta was a new brand, and the best gluten-free pasta I've ever had. I dressed it very simply, with Parmesan Reggiano (about 1.5 cups for 12 oz of dry pasta), fresh-ground black, white, green and pink peppercorns (relatively fresh, so they had a delightful tang), a little butter and a little olive oil. SO GOOD.

Comments

[babyraven.livejournal.com]

Heh heh... "tang."

[lawbabeak.livejournal.com]

When you do greens, do you put the garlic in the oil and cook it a bit first, or do you add it when you add the greens?

My greens are not inedible, just boring. I've been eating them because I am desperate for the iron, not because they are tasty. I'd like to change that.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

3 step process, right out of Alton Brown's playbook:

step 1: 5-6 cloves garlic smashed with the side of the cleaver, so that they're broken and flat but still mostly in one piece. I cook these in the oil until they're browned on both sides, then I discard them. This flavors the oil.

step 2: 2-3 cloves sliced garlic, cooked until it only just starts to brown. Then I add the greens and cook until the greens are almost done. Don't let the garlic burn! Burned garlic is nobody's friend.

step 3: 1-3 cloves minced or pressed garlic added to the green about 30 seconds before you take the whole shebang off the fire. This adds some real garlicky bite. I like it, but if you're cooking for company or on a date or something, maybe you want to skip this step.