ENSALADA - ITALIAN STYLE

Alright.  You've cooked, or are about to cook one of those easy-to-make meals and now, you want to make a strong finish.  What you need is a salad: one that is easy to make, delicious to eat and, best of all, gathers you many compliments.  So, let's do it.

INGREDIENTS

1 Head Boston Bibb lettuce

Forget the Iceberg.  Yeah, it's cheap, but life's too short to waste it on tasteless stuff.  You want to produce a salad that stays in your memory.  To do that you will need green stuff that has taste.

1 Head Radicchio

1 Bunch Arugula

1 Carrot, washed and scrapped clean

1 Celery Stalk

1 Handful of Moroccan olives (They're the black wrinkled ones)

The best Balsamic Vinegar you can afford

The Best Olive Oil you can afford

Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Snap off a few lettuce fronds.  I figure two for each person.  Rinse them gently under cold water, then blot them dry with a paper towel.
Grab your fanciest bowl and into it rip nice bite-sized pieces of the lettuce.  Do NOT cut the leaves.  Rip them.  They look more rustic, more natural and, after all, presentation is more than half the game.

Do the same with the Radicchio and the Arugula.

When you're done, you should have a nice mound of salad greens.  Now, mix them up.  Nicely.

Grab the carrot and - your choice: either cut them into nice thin rounds (not thick, you're not a rabbit) or, using a peeler, shave nice thin strands into the bowl.

Cut the celery into thin slices, angling downward so that you get elongated slivers rather than just straight-cut slices.  The point here is you want everything to look good as well as taste good.

Okay.  Just about done.  Hand mix everything once again and toss in a hefty handful of the olives.  Done.

Oh.  The salt, pepper, vinegar and oil...... they all get added just before you serve the salad, which, if you're smart, should be after you've finished the main dish.  Ensalada is to both enjoy and to clean your palate - as the saying goes, so that whatever dessert you serve, will taste clear and clean.

So.  Here's the procedure.  First comes the salt.  Sprinkle, taste.  Sprinkle, taste.  When that's to your liking, grind some black pepper over everything.  You really don't need to taste here, a nice thin coating will do for all but the most finicky of eaters.  Now, the oil.  Pour it gently and lightly over everything, then mix the salad and taste.  Repeat until the salad is thinly coated and you can actually taste the oil.  Now you know why you want to buy the best oil you can afford.  Finally, the vinegar.  Thick, black Italian vinegar - another one of those, best you can afford items.  Use it sparingly.  You're looking for a thin coating that just barely attacks your tongue.  Just a taste, so that the flavors of the vegetables are enhanced rather than overcome.

There.  Done.  A great salad to finish off a great meal, all whipped together quickly and easily.

Buon Appetito.

Now, here's a good bit of advice:  No matter what your main course is, serving a salad helps make the meal, AND, it's a snap to whip-up.  So, let's get one going....

Pasta Always Works and this dish - Penne Arrabbiata is a snap.

For a first shot at cooking for that beautiful redhead next door, or even your family who are in for a visit, nothing quite beats a good pasta dish, and here's one that will work wonders. Here's how to get started.

First, the ingredients.  I have a different approach to quantities, which I developed as a cook on many boat deliveries up and down the US.  It's design is to decide quantities on a per person (pp) basis.  After all, you may not have six for dinner, or even four, and why should you have to re-proportion a recipe?

INGREDIENTS (Per Person - pp)


5 plum (or roma as they are called) tomatoes pp.

Enough olive oil to nicely cover the bottom of a 8 or so inch cast iron frying pan. Nicely cover means there is some depth to the oil, rather than it just wetting the bottom.  After all, the oil is half the meal, and unless you go completely overboard, use a little bit more, rather than less. AND, if you're cooking for more than 3 people you should definitely use a bit more.

Don't have a cast iron pan?  Use what you've got, but get one soon.  They're great.

1 nice sized clove of garlic (this one is NOT per person).

2oz. of penne pasta ( for my money De Cecco can't be beat) pp.

1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes – NOT pp.  This one is a bit tricky.  Too much and everyone's tongue will burn like the blazes: too little and there won't be any heat. I'd err on the too little side.  If, when finished, the sauce is lacking in heat, then you can add and stir-in a very few additional flakes.

A handful of Italian parsley. Not pp. You can use the curly parsley, but it lacks the taste of the flat-leaved Italian kind. You want enough parsley to sprinkle over the finished dish.  How much depends upon your taste. You may also serve it in a bowl and let each person choose their amount.

Salt for the pasta water and the sauce.

A chunk of Parmesan cheese - to be placed on the table along with a grater.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER


The sauce takes quite a bit of time, so start early. Gather everything except the parsley and the cheese.

Pour the oil into the pan and set on very low heat.

Rub the garlic clove rigorously between your palms.  This usually gets the skin to peel right off.

Cut the garlic into thin slices and toss them into the oil.  They should barely bubble.  It they start cooking hard, the heat is too high. Turn it down. Keep an eye on the garlic as you cut the tomatoes.

Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Using your thumb, scoop out and discard all the seeds.

Check the garlic.  When the garlic is a golden brown, scoop out the pieces and also discard.  You want the essence and flavor of the garlic but not the strong taste of biting into a piece.

Slice the tomatoes into quarters and place into oil.  Be careful, they may splatter.

Sprinkle a nice pinch of salt over the tomatoes. This is another of those "how much" items. Some folks can taste a micro grain of salt, others need much more. For starters I'd put one good sized pinch in. After it's done you can taste and add more if required.

Let the tomatoes cook until they start to get soft before moving on.

Once the tomatoes get soft and while they are cooking, Fill a large pot with water, and bring it to a boil. Use the largest pot you have.  Pasta likes to have room. But, if you don't have it, you don't have it.

While everything's cooking, roll the parsley into a tight ball and thinly slice it. Gather it all together and slice it again. Do it two more times and you'll have some well chopped parsley, ready for the pasta.

Once the water's boiling, add the penne and cook until, as they say, it's al dente.  Penne usually cooks for about 11 minutes.  Check the side of the box.  However, here's how I do it. About a minute before the box-recommended cooking time comes up, take some pasta out and cut it open.  If the pasta (and this goes for any pasta) is the same color all the way through, it's done. Usually though, the center will look quite different. Usually, it'll be lighter in color.  That means it's not ready. Toss it back in and wait one minute. Then check it out again. Once your test piece is the same color throughout, it's done. Shut off the heat and pour the pasta into a strainer.

Meanwhile, the tomatoes should be just about ready.  They should have pretty much melted down to a thick sauce - chunky and nice.

Pop the pasta into individual plates, cover with the tomato sauce, sprinkle the parsley over the top and serve  with the cheese and grater.
Buon Appetito!