Tag Archives: Pasta

Leek / mushroom / eggplant pasta

16 Nov

An easy weeknight two-pot meal combining a range of fall ingredients I like.

  • Wash, trim, and chop two leeks (keeping most of the green part as well)
  • Put them in a skillet with a pat of butter on low heat, salt, cover, and let slowly cook for about 30 minutes as they give off water and reduce, until creamy-soft and sweet (stir once every 5 minutes or so)
  • While they’re cooking, skin and dice eggplants (I used 6 tiny eggplants from the garden, could also use one medium eggplant). Add them to the leeks for the last 15 minutes or so of the cooking time.
  • Clean and roughly break up chanterelle mushrooms, add them for the last 3-4 minutes.
  • Boil salty water for pasta, cook the pasta, throw diced green beans in for the last minute.
  • Drain the pasta, add to the skillet, and cook another minute. Serve.

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pasta-making class

16 Oct

results of pasta class:

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hand-pulling orecchiette:

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agnolotti filled with rabbit and pork

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flour + water pasta tasting

14 Mar

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One of the best pasta tastings I’ve had there. The anise-ish tarragon in the beet mezzaluna! The stripes of mint in the tagliatelle with bottarga!

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roasted duck, black pepper, egg pasta (flour+water)

5 Oct

After working late, I dropped by flour + water on my way home to see if there was a seat at the bar, sat down within 15  minutes, and had one of the better meals I’ve had there:

roasted duck breast with chestnut, roasted squash, walnut & pumpkin seed

I do like the time of year when chestnuts make an appearance in food. And this dish was phenomenal– juicy, tender duck with a slightly sweet chestnut puree and a lot of mellow, well-blended supporting flavors.

black pepper tagliarini with tesa, broccoli di ciccio & soft cooked egg

This was one of my favorite pasta experiences here, up with the carrot caramelle and radiatore with whey-braised hen.

The pasta was just so tender and perfectly cooked, the egg was exceptional (and mixing it in distributed rich, dark yellow, runny yolk over each strand of pasta), and the tesa (cured pork belly) was intense, like a concentrated less-salty bacon, but used in moderation and didn’t overpower the pasta.

Quite a dinner.

And while I rarely have anything to say about wine, the De Forville Barbaresco, Vigna Loreto 2008, Piemonte was also one of my favorites in quite a while– a taste almost like swimming in a gravel-lined, fresh mountain stream– in a good way (I think the oenophile-approved adjective is “mineraly”).

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at flour + water: rabbit raviolini w/ chestnuts and sage

20 Dec

flour + water: rabbit raviolini w/ chestnuts and sage

very good.

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flour + water pasta tasting

29 Sep

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It was so good I had to do it again when they switched menus.

It wasn’t as every-single-dish-I-want-to-eat-again amazing as last time, but the radiatore with hen and the fattisu with duck and chanterelles (my favorite mushroom) were fantastic. Both were rich but slightly tart, whether from the lemon, the chanterelles, or the cabbage.

For wine, the Tami Grillo and Foradori Teroldego were highlights. Hints of—- never mind, I can’t do wine tasting notes, I really have no idea what I’m talking about (probably luckily).

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flour + water pasta tasting

23 Sep


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I lucked into a special “summer pasta tasting” menu option recently, and it was one of my best meals out in quite a while. flour + water really is that good (especially their pasta).

Every one of these pastas was something I’d happily order again as a standalone dish, but my favorites were probably the agnolotti dal plin (filled with hen and perhaps another meat or some pork broth? so rich…) and the rabbit francobolli with chanterelles & sage.

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pasta, pesto, cranberry beans, fresh ricotta

28 Aug

Here’s a quick post-bike-ride dinner I assembled in 30 minutes from getting home to sitting down to eat (I say “assembled” because I picked up major premade components from Rainbow on the ride home– go ahead, think less of me).

1. Boiled water (slowly on my sad electric stove) and also heated milk on medium high with a few pinches of salt, stirring frequently to avoid scorching.

2. Shelled some fresh cranberry beans (they caught my eye after a recent conversation and a dinner at Camino).

3. When the milk started to simmer, I added about 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar to separate the curds and whey, reduced the heat, stirred for about 30 seconds, then poured it into a strainer to drain.

4. Tossed the shelled beans into boiling water for about 10 minutes.

5. While the beans boiled, sliced a tomato and drizzled it with olive oil and black pepper, and cracked open a beer (Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils).

6. Tossed some store-bought ravioli (porcini mushroom, by the Pasta Shop) into the water with the beans, and cooked them about 5 more minutes.

7. Drained and tossed the pasta and beans with some pesto (from the bulk bin at Rainbow– sure, I could have made my own), and sat down to eat. It turns out, I really like the pasta + fresh beans combination.

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